The Way Of The Transgressor Is Hard - Brian Osburn 12/1/19

It's a great day in many ways, but just a few it's a great day

for one thing that it's the Lord's Day.

And I don't know if you noticed on the drive here this morning,

you could see the snow covered mountains.

And just see the beauty around. And they declared there is a

God. And we gather together this

morning and we declared there is a God and we worship Him.

And we do. So in thankfulness we do so

because it's a blessing we do so in honor to him because he's

done so much for us. He's been very, very good to us.

He's granted us salvation, he's loved us.

Even though we don't deserve it. And so we it's a wonderful time

to be able to gather together and assemble like this, and just

give him all the glory and praise.

As we begin this morning, you'll see a passage here written by

the by Solomon. The great wise man as it says

here in Proverbs 13 and verse 15.

Good and is stunned. Good at understanding giveth

favor but the way of transgressors is hard and that's

what I want to focus on this morning.

About that idea of how really it is harmed. when we choose not to

obey, I really it is hard when we choose to do what we want to

do as opposed to God's way because there are there are some

people in the world today and maybe you know some of them

About it. They claim.

It's well, it's pretty hard to live the life of the Christian.

And they can look at the Bible and have an attitude that the

Bible is just simply just too restrictive for them and they

could look at such verses as this and Matthew chapter 7,

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

where Jesus says here, beginning in verse number 13, Jesus says,

enter by the narrow gate for wide.

Is the gate and Broad is the way that leads to destruction.

And there are many who go in by it. because narrow is the gate

and difficult is the way which leads to life and there are few

Who find it? And a person can look at that

and see what Jesus said and so well.

But the odds are stacked against me if I try to follow the lord.

And and they might conclude. Well what's the point if you

will be able to enter Heaven And not only can you find Jesus

stating that it's going to take some work to get into heaven,

but Paul also writes that those who lived the life of a

Christian, well there's going to be some tough times as well.

Your faith is going to be tested.

You might be persecuted in one way or another, you're going to

have troubles in life in one way or another because Paul says

this in second, Timothy chapter 3, verse number 12.

Yes, and all who desire to live Godly in Christ Jesus.

Us will suffer persecution and he states that as a fact.

It's going to happen as you live your life and people might hear

that and and hear that Christians suffer for serving

the lord and I don't want any part of that.

After all, who wants to be persecuted in the first place

and what more reason to even avoid persecution will not only

met some not want to be a Christian because of the

persecution that it could bring. But others might have the idea

that it requires them to stay away from certain things.

It required could require them to stay away from works of the

flesh that that might enjoy doing and Galatians chapter 5.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

Tells us that those who practice that the works of the flesh.

Flesh. It simply says they will not

inherit the kingdom of God. And so again, after seeing such

a list from Paul there in Galatians, chapter 5 for one

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

thing concerning, how a Christian should not be involved

in those things, someone could simply conclude, it's just too

hard to just cut those things off from life because without

those things. How can we really enjoy it?

How can we spend a good time with other people?

How can we really enjoy life? Well, let me leave you with the

won't let me State. This one passage that Jesus says

in Matthew chapter 11 and he says this in verse number 30, he

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

says, my yoke is easy. And he says my burden is light.

You Christ said this and and think about what he says here in

light of what we've seen so far. How is the Yoke of Jesus?

Easy? And how is it light upon us?

That there are restrictions upon us and we're going to face some

troubles or space some difficulties while Living For

The Master. Well, hold on to that thought

because we're going to answer that in our study.

This morning of how this statement by Jesus is true, when

we live for him now in a different light Christians might

sometimes see the world enjoying the pleasures of sin and we

might have the desire to participate and I don't know why

that's blank but will discontinue on.

It will show up here in a moment. and when we look at

other people out in the world, And maybe had that temptation.

Of. Well, should I or shouldn't I

participate in that? Now, I would lie to you and I

would tell you, I would be lying to you.

If I told you that sin isn't fun because we all know it is.

And Satan is going to try to lure Us in any way possible.

And one of the ways he does it is to make sense, Santa's fun,

fun and enjoyable. But when you take a look at the

scriptures, especially the Book of Proverbs, it's tells us,

don't envy those people. Don't envy what they do, don't

envy the fun that they have In fact, you look at various

passages such as like, Proverbs 23 verse 17.

Proverbs 23:17

He says, do not let your heart in be Sinners.

But on the other side of the coin, he says, but be zealous

for the fear of the Lord, all the day and then in Proverbs 24

in verse 1, it says do not be envious of evil men, nor desire

to be with them. And then Proverbs 24 and verse

19. Do not fret because of evildoers

nor be envious of the wicked. And there are countless things

that the that the Book of Proverbs tells us, no matter

what they're doing. Don't let that be something that

you desire in regards to unholiness and ungodliness,

don't be fooled by the fund that they might be having or the

enjoyment, they that they might be having.

And as Solomon writes, if we envy that sinner who Delights in

the Sin? Well, we might begin to

rationalize within our own minds that it just might be okay.

It might be okay to do this or it might be okay to do that.

Well in the course of our study of this morning, I want to take

a look at what Solomon, wrote concerning the life of the

center and again compared to the life of a Christian when he

says, again, good understanding giveth favor, but the way of

transgressors is hard according to Proverbs 13 and verse 15

because he simply States this fact that the Sinners life is

actually more difficult while on Earth while the man who walks in

obedience to the Lord. And we're going to see exactly

how that works out and how that is in our study of this morning.

Now, all of us believe that our obedience toward God is best for

us in view of Eternity, we're looking forward to that goal.

We're looking forward to that reward reward of heaven.

And what we do here on Earth is going to get us there as we live

Faithfully for our Lord and we all understand that.

Yet, there might be some who believe that obedience is only

best in view of Eternity. And what I mean by that is that

a person service to the Lord is ultimately fulfilled in Eternal

promises while really hardly looking at really the full

blessings of blessing that we can encounter while we still

live upon this Earth. And not just only in view of

heaven and Eternity. And if we look at it from a kind

of a smaller picture like that, we really miss out the big

picture of really the entire goodness of God and and God's

blessings. While we live here upon this

Earth, there's something interesting and unique about the

Book of Proverbs. in fact, while Solomon while he's riding these

words of advice to his son, he gave advice in the direction

which would result to rewards a consequences in life while we

live upon this Earth. And this, this is unique about

the Book of Proverbs because very rarely if any does Solomon,

write anything about eternal consequences, very rarely.

If any does he talk about heaven, or does he talk about

hell throughout the Book of Proverbs?

He focuses on the life now and he focuses on the joy that you

can have in life right now or the heartache that could come

because of poor church because of poor choices.

And so it all depends on your individual Choice while you're

here upon this Earth. And when you look to other

passages, we know that not only are Solomon's words, good for us

while we live on this Earth, but God's commands are given to us

in order to keep us from Bad consequences.

Because they're written for our own good.

He look here, Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 24.

Deuteronomy 6:24

It says and the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes

to fear the lord, our God. For our good always.

Why is that? Well, here's a result of us of

it that he might preserve Us Alive as it is this day.

It is for our own good, so that we can be preserved by God.

Not only that Deuteronomy, 10 verse 13 and to keep the

Deuteronomy 10:13

Commandments of the Lord and his statutes, which I command to you

today for your good. And so we see that it just here

primarily in the book of Deuteronomy not, but not only

that someone writes that a person who obeys the commands.

Well, they're going to keep themselves from Evil, they're

going to do themselves some good.

What? During that, in fact, it says

here. Proverbs 16 / 17.

The highway of the upright is to depart from Evil.

He who keeps his way. Well it says the end result he's

going to preserve his soul. Not only that Proverbs 19 16 he

who keeps the Commandment keeps his soul but he who is careless

of his ways. He says he's going to die.

And that's an interesting phrase, one who is careless

about his life one who was careless about the decisions

that they make in their life. It's foolishness and eventually

they're going to die in a spiritual sense.

Not only that. But here's another interesting

phrase by the book, by Solomon, Proverbs 8, verse 36 but he who

Proverbs 8:36

sins against me wrongs his own soul, you're not just doing

wrong against God. You're doing wrong against

yourself and you're not doing yourself any good, but he also

says all those who hate me. Here's an interesting phrase,

they love death. And who loves death?

No one. But by the actions of poor

decisions. We show that.

We all know that sin not only has Eternal consequences but it

as well has its Earthly consequences.

Because Solomon wrote that, we can't still the deflesh without

reaping, it's harvest of sorrow and whoa.

In fact, he says this and chapter 11 verses 3 and 5.

The Integrity of the upright will guide them but the

perversity of the Unfaithful he says it will destroy them.

Then skipping on down to verse number five.

He says the righteousness of the blameless will direct his way,

right? But the Wicked Will Fall by his

own wickedness. And let me give you just a

couple more passages here regarding this.

Proverbs 13 13, He Who despises the word will be destroyed.

Roid, but he who fears the commandant will be rewarded.

And then in chapter 15 verse 32, he who disdains instruction who

doesn't want to keep it. He said he despises his own soul

but he who heeds rebuke gets understanding.

So from these things, these are General statements by the

Solomon, but let me bring this down, kind of fungal it down to

something specific here, as we progress the in our study.

Because for one thing, the man who was cruel, for example,

well, he brings trouble upon himself, it says in virtue

11:17, but the merciful man does good for his own soul.

But on the other hand, he who is cruel troubles.

His own flesh. I don't know if you've ever

seen, you might have seen this burst in action, really mm, both

ways. I used to work with the guy.

Where he was, he was always coming to work or we would

saying that he got in an argument with this person or

he'd get into a fight with this person.

And he would always tell the story that he was always the

victim, always given that perspective.

But not only that, but this guy he was always stressed.

And because of his stress and because of his situation, he

was, he was on medication because of that.

Anything, he didn't realize that the way he, the reason why he

was getting into these fights all the time wasn't because

everyone else is bad. But the problem was him.

He was the problem. He was the one who was cruel to

other people. He was the one who was picking

the fights. He was the one who created the

stress in his life. He brought, he was cruel upon

his own flesh, in other words. He was always carrying that chip

on his shoulder. Yet, he blamed other people for

his actions. and as on the other side of the coin, Solomon says,

if your merciful upon other people, if you treat other

correctly, And you're not cruel to them.

We're not going to have to complain about other people.

People are going to return love and kindness back to you when

you show that to them. Generally speaking.

There are some difficult people out there to deal with but we

still treat them with love and mercy and respect.

But we do ourselves good. When we treat other people with

mercy and we don't bring trouble Upon Our Own up on our own

selves and bring that into our life. when we talk about Sin

having its consequences there might be some who might think

that well it could be especially those who are younger that

things, you know, we could we can make some decisions in life

and just Yeah, we might not have followed the advice of some and

we might be able to get away with it.

Maybe it will never catch up with us or we might we might not

suffer too much from some of the choices that we make.

There's something that Solomon writes here in the Book of

Proverbs that to me, when I first read it, it was very

striking to me about this idea of what we choose to do and the

consequences that may or or may not lie.

We might have to endure from that.

And it says, this in the very first chapter of the Book of

Proverbs, it says, beginning of verse number, 25 is says,

because you disdained all my counsel, And would have none of

my rebuke. Listen to what the Lord says

here in verse number 26. He says I also will laugh at

your calamity. It's pretty harsh, isn't it?

I will laugh at your Calamity. I will mock when your Terror

comes. When your tear comes like a

storm and your destruction comes like a whirlwind when distress

and anguish come upon you. He says be continued on in verse

number 28, then they will call on me but I will not answer.

They will seek me diligently but they will not find me.

Here's the reason why. Because they hated knowledge and

did not choose the fear of the Lord.

See what bad decisions. Do he says they would have none

of my counsel and despised my every rebuke.

Therefore Here's the result. They shall eat the fruit of

their own way and be filled the full with their own fancies.

So here you have a situation with the Lord.

Speaking to someone who made a bad choice, who chose to sin did

not follow wise counsel. We've all been there.

We've all done that. And there are things that we do

in our life that we regret. And there are things that were

sorry for. But there are some things that

we do in our life that even though we're sorry about.

And even though we might go to God and ask him to forgive us of

what we've done. He says, In this passage, you

might still have to live with the consequences of your bad

choice while upon this Earth. He says, there are things.

I will not take away. Even though I still will forgive

you. And that's one of the things

about what one, the bad things of sin is.

You know, you could still be grounded by your parents for not

obeying them. Even though, you're sorry for

what you've done, you still going to have to endure that.

It could be having to serve jail time for disobeying the law of

the land even though you're sorry for what you've done, it

could be having a ruined reputation from treating others

wrong even though you're sorry for treating them the way that

you have it could be also having a difficult time earning the

trust of others after lying to him.

It takes a long time, sometimes Arista restoration like that

never happens, even though you're sorry.

You've done that. And you could go the list could

go on and on about what we still have to endure.

Even though we're sorry for what we've done.

And that's one of the harsh realities of our bad decisions.

But even after stating some examples of some of our

consequences that we face in life and making Porter's, poor

choices are sinning. Solomon also mentioned something

else about what poor choices are sitting can do to us.

In fact, for one thing, it says this interesting phrase and

proverbs 10 verse 27, he says the fear of the Lord, prolongs,

Proverbs 10:27

Things. But the years of the wicked he

says they will be shortened. That's an interesting phrase,

isn't it? That's an interesting concept.

How is that possible? Those of us who live

righteously? Does that mean we're going to go

on to live longer than those who?

Continue to sin? Who continue to make poor

choices? Well, it could be yes.

But the principle here is that living the life of a Christian

is going to keep you away from things that shorten your life.

Is going to keep you away from making bad choices.

That might result in may. Be degrading your quality of

life or bring you into Harm's Way.

It could keep you from deadly situations.

You see, when you take to heart the advice, given through the

Book of Proverbs, it keeps a helps us to stay safe and it

helps us to stay healthy in our life.

It keeps us from wreaking havoc to our lives and the lives of

others. And this is how the Christian

enjoys a prolong life. But another thing we find as a

consequence of sin, is that, well, it could create addiction.

Proverbs 5 verse 22 says his own iniquities.

Proverbs 5:22

He says it entraps the Wicked Man.

And he is caught in the cords of his sin.

And we don't want to be there. An addiction could come in

various ways, and forms. And whatever that is that we

become a slave to it through our bad habits, we are prone to

become addicted to it. And bad habits and addictions

can be very difficult to break, can't they?

We could all agree on that. That's why we try to make wise

to wise choices and what we have fun with but what we put into

our bodies, because we never know if that buzz, we never know

if that high will become something that We crave It's

best just to stay away knowing that there's that potential of

us being entrapped in it and becoming a slave to it.

And as we continue to talk about the consequences of our poor

choices and sin while on Earth, I want to take a moment and I

want to look at the prodigal son here for just a moment.

And this is a parable top my Jesus.

So I'm not going to read, I'm just kind of summarize.

But if you want to read along while I summarize, it's in Luke

Luke 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15, beginning of verse number 11.

And we all know this Parable taught by Jesus it's a it's one

of the Beloved ones that we love to read because it we love

seeing the end result of God's love and grace at the end, but I

don't focus upon this son who decides to leave for a moment.

He won this this this, this boy this young man.

In my mind, wanted to experience the world.

And perhaps, perhaps, he had talked to, some of his friends,

about how great it was to live on their own and have have

complete Freedom over the lives. No, curfew.

No one to tell you what to do. No one to give you chores, no

responsibilities at home, I don't know.

But maybe he let those ideas stirred, his mind until one day.

He asked his father, give me my money.

That is due me. So that he could experience what

was out there? And now, no Jesus doesn't say

this. I just speculate again.

This is just a parable. Maybe the father just tried to

reason with them and warn them that what was out there, wasn't

worth it, son. It's not worth you spending your

money on, it's not worth your time and a part of your life

investing in. On the other hand, maybe his

father, just let him have the money without reasoning with

him, knowing that his son had already made up his mind.

And there was nothing that the father was going to say that was

going to change his mind. There are some fathers out there

that just would just hand over the money knowing full.

Well, the sum would be back. Because he knew what was out

there and how long it will last. Well, after some days, the some

left and Jesus tells us that he wasted his money on things that

were simply just pointless and he really didn't get very far

with it. And it came to a point where now

he was out of money and there was a Great Famine in that land

too. so, he and really, when it came to an end of all that he

had, As kind of a principle for us.

They even went wouldn't Solomon teaches this one very thing

about what we have weird to be wise with because he wasted what

he had. In fact, you look here, what it

says? Proverbs 21 17.

He who loves pleasure. He says he's going to be a poor

man. And that's exactly what we find

in this Parable, don't we? He says, he who loves wine and

oil will not be rich. It's because he wasted his money

on those things. His poor choices had led him to

poverty and so he felt he he tried to find a job just to make

ends meet him found himself feeding pigs and I don't know

how long it took Jesus doesn't tell us.

Maybe it took a day, maybe it took a week, maybe it took

longer than that. Jesus really doesn't tell us.

But as he was feeding the pigs one day, this slop he began to

desire that to desire that any thought man, I'm so hungry.

It has, he's thinking about this.

We know that he's hit rock bottom.

And he knows it too. Because we know as he's going

through this and he's hit rock bottom.

He reflects the back of how he had it at home.

And he says, here I am in this situation.

And my father's servants, have it much better than I do right

now. He came to that realization.

And here's a hard truth that we see sometimes in a person's

life. That would it's us or maybe

others who make poor choices or we become enslaved to sin.

Maybe we're looking to other people who made really bad

decisions that we try to encourage someone to try to turn

things around, or we might try to give them like a heart to

heart. Maybe have some type of

intervention intervention with them.

But sometimes people choose not to listen, to the wise counsel

of others. And sometimes the only thing

that's going to cause them to turn their life around is for

them to hit rock bottom. And that's hard to see.

Especially our loved ones. To hit rock bottom.

Because of the careless life that they lived.

Sometimes, that's what it takes. you have for this young man to

hit rock bottom, it caused him to change his way of thinking

and so He left that world of poor choices behind him and he

started home. And we know that as he was

approaching his father's house, his father saw him from a

distance there. And he ran out to him, he

embraced him, he showed him his great love and he was so glad to

see him. But as his son, he was like, Dad

Dad. Trying to stop him and he had

rehearsed the speech and he was going to tell him, but his dad

wouldn't hear, his dad, wouldn't hear it because his son was

home. And they had a celebration

because of that. He was going to tell him dad, I

made bad choices. I'm not even worthy to be even

called your son. Just make me, just make me a

servant and I'll be good. But his father embraced him as

his son, and they celebrated the return of his son.

And you, look at a parable like that, that Jesus taught And let

me ask you this regarding what he went through.

Do you think this young man Learned that the way of

transgressors is hard. I think we could all agree in.

Yes. In fact, he learned the hard

way. That the way of transgressors is

hard. L want to tell you, I'm telling

myself this to, we don't have to learn the hard way.

We don't. We can listen to the advice of

our peers, we can listen to the advice of our parents.

You can read the wise counsel of Solomon here in the Book of

Proverbs. And you could read the examples

of people in scripture who made poor choices and we can learn

from their mistakes. And we can see that the way of

the transgressors is hard without having to experience its

heartaches and, and the stress and the difficulty and the sin,

That we might have to face. We can avoid all that.

By listening to wise counsel. I want to talk just for a few

minutes, as we begin to wrap things up this morning about the

advantage of making right choices and how it keeps us

from, making it harder than what it really always, what it really

is. In fact, I'm not going to read

this, but I'm just going to summarize what Paul writes in

Romans chapter 5, I encourage you to turn there and read along

Romans 5 · chapter mention

with, read along as I'm describing these things in the

first 10 verses. As we talk about these great

advantages, when we do make right decisions in our life,

Paul he'll has some great promises and Paul lists.

Some great benefits that we have in God through Jesus Christ.

And how we get this, we get this through our obedience to him.

We get this through holy lives and righteous living.

And he mentions, for example, that we have peace.

We have peace in our life that comes from an informant

obedience to him. And this is the piece that we

can't find when we continue to make bad decisions in our life.

We can't find peace in those things but we do find peace and

God. When we live, right?

He also says that we have access to God's grace when we do what

is right. He says that we have a true Joy

from God that nothing in this world could ever bring to us.

And sometimes yeah, we might find joy that I've stated

already in some of the some of the bad decisions that we make.

Yes, there is fun in that. But there's not an everlasting

joy that comes from any of that. But an everlasting joy in God

for doing right? and he says, if Hard Times come

our way, Paul says were able to glory in those trials and from

those trials were able to develop patience and we also

gain experience when we endure through those trials and through

that patience. And as we do this and live

Faithfully, God gives us a promise, and he gives us a hope.

And Paul says, we have a love that God bestows upon his

children and these are just a few things just from this one

passage of when we choose to do what is right.

And God is so good, that he's willing to give us these things

in our life to help us along. And to just give us, give us the

Boost in our life. And to even at the end, give us

that promise of heaven. When we are faithful in the end.

and so, as we summarize our study, As we conclude again,

going back to Proverbs 13, 15. Good understanding is says gains

favor, but again, the way of the Unfaithful is hard and then

Proverbs 22 and verse 5, Thorns and snares are in the way of the

perverse. But he, who guards, his soul

will be far from them and don't you want to be far from them?

Don't you want your laugh to be easy?

The easiest that it can be. We know how to do that.

Now, I'll tell you something, we should be thankful that the way

of the transgressor is hard, we really should because when we

realize that the way of the transgressor is hard, and when

we suffer the consequences of sin, we realize that we had it

better. When we were living, right?

We realize that. And we realize how good God is

to us. And so how easier it is to live

in The Obedience to God's word rather than disobedience.

And so let these words just be words of reminders to you as we

mainly focused really upon what the wise men Solomon wrote as

advice to his son and really advice to all of us.

And take advantage of God's goodness, really?

Because God, he wants to, he wants to bestow us with so many

blessings. Let's let him do it.

Through living for him. I'm praising him and glorify him

and all that we do. And I leave these words with you

this morning and we don't want to close our thoughts without

offering the Lord's, invitation to you this morning.

It's not the invitation from the congregation.

This the Lord's invitation to you.

Do you have, maybe you've never obeyed the Gospel of Jesus

Christ. The best decision that you will

ever make in your life, is to obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ,

that is the best decision you will ever make.

I understand that Jesus came to this world and he died for you

because he loved you, and he bore your sins upon the cross.

And he died, he was buried. But yet he was resurrected on

the third day and because of that you can have salvation in

his name. You must believe that and then

act upon that faith that you're going to change your life.

Repent. Change your life for the better

change of life and you're going to take God's Will and replace

it with yours. And then confess that Jesus

Christ is the Son of God. We find that in Acts chapter 8

Acts 8 · chapter mention

and then we see in Acts chapter 2, those people were baptized

Acts 2 · chapter mention

for the remission of their sins and they were added to the

church the Lord added them to the church because of their

Obedience of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

And you could do that today. The Lord wants you to do that

today, if you haven't done it, I'll be the best thing you will

ever do in your life is to come to him.

We thank you for listening to our podcast, put on by the

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