1. STANDING AT THE CROSSROADS

2. I shall be telling this with a sigh, Somewhere ages and ages hence, Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference!

3. Matt. 7:13, 14, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”

4. Josh. 24:15, “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

5. During our life on this earth, we end up having to make some major decisions.
The most important decision is the one that has eternal consequences.

6. I. CONTROL

7. You control your destiny!
Prov. 1:29, “For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord.”
Psa. 25:12, “What man is he that feareth the Lord? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.”

8. 2 Cor. 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”

9. You control your actions!
Gal. 2:11, “But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.”

10. We live in a world of blame!
Blame began in the garden of Eden.
Gen. 3:12, “And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.”

11. II. CHOICE

12. The concept of being a free moral agent involves the will to choose.
God watched as Satan tempted Eve. He saw the event, and heard every word spoken. Yet, He did not interfere! Why? Because it would have taken away from man’s free will.
God wants servitude from the heart and not from the whip!

13. Making the right choice is what separates the righteous from the wicked.
Heb. 11:24-26, “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.”

14. Having Choices Means:
(1) No such thing as inherited sin: Ezk. 18:18-20, “As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, spoiled his brother by violence, and did that which is not good among his people, lo, even he shall die in his iniquity.  Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father?

15. When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.”

16. Three definitions of sin: (1) All unrighteousness, (“All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.” 1 Jn. 5:17).
(2) Knowing to do good and not doing it, (“Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” James 4:17).
3) Transgression of God’s law, (“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.” 1 Jn. 3:4).

17. (2) No such thing as pleading ignorance: Acts 17:30, “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent.”

18. III. CONFLICT

19. Making the right choice is often met with conflict.
Sometimes that conflict is external.
Matthew 10:36, “And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.”

20. Sometimes that conflict is internal.
James 4:17, “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

21. Rom. 7:18-25, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 

22. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”

23. IV. CONSEQUENCES

24. Newton’s third law of motion tells us that every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
In Christianity we note that our choices bring about consequences!

25. Consequences of Evil
Gal. 6:7, 8, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”

26. Consequences of Good
Gal. 6:9, “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
Micah 2:7, “O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the Lord straitened? are these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?”

27. Eph. 6:7, “With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men.”