The Path Goes Upwards

"THE PATH GOES UPWARDS" – Proverbs 15:29 The path of the wise goes upwards, towards life, so that he can avoid the one who goes downwards, to death and destruction.

I. The path of wisdom and holiness is a path of life.

A. Therefore, it is a way up (Heaven).

1. It is the way to escape from Sheol below, from death (hell).

2. It is a place of darkness where the dead go without Christ.

3. The wise know that the path of life is upwards.

4. To the wise for he loves wisdom (he has high knowledge of God, having intelligence and good taste, the highest level of knowledge, is advanced understanding, intelligent or sensible behavior = prudent, judicious, sane) because he has become a connoisseur (expert, knowledgeable).

5. To turn away from Sheol below.

6. You know, the pleasures here on earth are fleeting, but Sheol is full of the dead in darkness.

7. You go upwards because you are understanding, to turn away from Sheol below.

8. (Job 11:14) "He must examine himself," change his mind, and make the tree good.

9. You can only do it yourself in your decision.

10. You must turn your heart to God and stretch out your hands to Him in humble and trusting prayer.

11. In prayer Job must ask God: "Not to dwell in his house of unrighteousness; let everything that is not right in his house be refined."

12. It is an act of saying to God: "help me and forgive, do in my life all the good I need today!"

13. The best thing Job can do is cast off his sins, then God will give him security, rest, and comfort.

14. Alas, brother, otherwise he will not be able to escape destruction.

15. (Isaiah 55:7) You have to repent, change your mentality and behavior (you behave in your life and actions), so that your sins are forgiven, if you do not do so you carry your sins everywhere and you are simply a robot, who is programmed, does not like sincerity, honesty and you become a deceiver of yourself because those around you know what your fruit gives.

16. If you are in the church and you have not been converted then you do not have God in your life, you are merely another visitor, which I do not have to account to God for you.

17. Only repentant sinners will find a forgiving God.

18. (A) To repent is to forsake sin.

19. It is a change of mentality.

20. True repentance attacks the root and cleanses the heart of evil.

21. We must change, dislodge (take out) the corrupt imaginations and the pretexts under which the unsanctified heart shelters itself.

22. To repent is to turn to the Lord, against whom we have rebelled; to return to God, who is the source of life.

23. If we do so, God will have compassion on us, for He is ample in forgiving.

24. (Ephesians 4:22) In the school of Christ we learn that at the time of conversion we put off our old self, who is vitiated (harming, corrupting, falsifying) according to deceitful desires.

25. This "old man" refers to all that the person was before his conversion, all that he was as a son of Adam.

26. It is corrupt (rotten, corrupt) as a result of giving in to deceitful and evil cravings that give promises of pleasure but are repellent (tend to drive away) and frustrating when consummated.

27. As far as his position in Christ is concerned, the believer's old man was crucified and buried with Christ, it is not because he escaped a few days from such sin, it is that you only overcame, it is that the old man is crucified and buried with Christ absolutely and nothing else.

28. Here Paul is emphasizing the positional aspect (appearance) (position) of truth; "We have shed the old man once and for all."

29. (Acts 12:1) They were being persecuted and might become discouraged and abandoned.

30. Worse, they may be tempted to return to the temple and its ceremonies.

31. We must get rid of everything that can hinder us.

32. We must also rid ourselves of the sin that besets us.

33. Beware of unbelief, it is doubting the sacred!

34. We are to prepare ourselves (prayer, fasting, the Word) to persist with perseverance through trials and temptations.

35. (1 Peter 2:11) Peter reminds believers that they are strangers and pilgrims in the world and that this fact should leave its imprint (print, mark, seal, engraving) on all their conduct.

36. We are foreigners in the sense that we are living in a strange country in which we have no citizenship rights.

37. We are "pilgrims" (wayfarers) in the sense that we are obligated to live for a time in a place that is not our permanent home.

38. Do not cling to this land, for what you have will one day be taken away from you and you will weep and you will not want to leave; but God calls for the best, eternity, that we will be full in everything and many prizes, but many to what we here lead to win. Amen