THE WAY OF THE TRANSGRESSOR
Prov. 13:15
Morning Meditation 4/17/17
Verse 15 says, “Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors is hard.”
Satan’s big lie to young people and adults is that you can’t have a good time and be a Christian. And the Bible does suggest that the pleasures of this world should be put aside in favor of the life of faith. For instance Hebrews 11:24-25 says, “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.” Moses made the right choice. It was not a salvation choice, it was a service choice. One is not saved by giving up the world, he is saved by faith in Christ (Rom. 4:5; 5:1). You might say, “Moses knew nothing of Christ.” In answer to that Hebrews 11:26 says of Moses, “Esteeming the reproach of CHRIST greater riches then the treasures of Egypt . . .” (Caps mine for emphasis). For anyone who believes that God had another plan of salvation in the Old Testament, and that they did not know anything about Christ, meditate on that one for a while.
God says, “. . . but the way of the transgressor is hard.” The “pleasures of this world” are not trouble free. Unsaved people have problems here and will experience eternal consequences. Let’s look at the way of the transgressor:
THE WAY OF THE TRANSGRESSOR IS SELFISH
Man is born self centered. He is filled with the pride of self accomplishment. When our children are born, we begin as soon as they do something we like, by pouring praise on them for it. They respond by doing it again, not necessarily to please us, but to feed off the praise that their actions bring. This is a need of the flesh that comes with birth. This is a self centered need. It is a part of what we call depravity.
What is man’s purpose in creation? God says in Ecclesiastes12:13-14: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Man was not created for him to have a good time. He was created to give God pleasure. And when a person is saved and yielded to the Lord, his best times are when he is glorifying God. But he has to be born again for this to work. He is born selfish.
THE WAY OF THE TRANSGRESSOR IS DEFIANT
Cain is a good illustration of this. He defied God to His face. Can one do this? Yes. Can one do it without penalty? No. All of Cain’s family (a multitude) died by the judgement of God in the flood. It does not pay to defy God. David said of Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:36: “Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath DEFIED the armies of the living God.” (Caps mine for emphasis).
The word “defy” means, “To oppose or resist with boldness and assurance, to refuse to submit to or cooperate with.” The way of the sinner is to resist with boldness and assurance the authority of God’s throne. It is to refuse to submit or cooperate with the purpose for which he was created. We see this everywhere. The Bible is God’s Word of authority in this world. They kicked it out of public schools years ago. They teach the false hypothesis of evolution as a science to explain origins. In doing it they obviously set aside true science. But when one defies God, he justifies himself even if he has to do it with a lie.
THE WAY OF THE TRANSGRESSOR IS CRUEL
Solomon says, “The way of the transgressor is hard.” The word “hard” translates “bagad” and means, “to act treacherously, deceitfully, deal treacherously.” All you have to do is to open your ears to what is happening today to see how this acts out in the human race. Saddam Hussein is a bloody butcher. He has no respect for life including those who are closest to him. However, when you turn on the news in our country, you find the same cruelty. A mother drives her car up the the edge of the water, locks her two small children in the car, and pushes it off in the water. She then says that they were kidnaped. But the police discover the truth. She is now serving a life sentence. What caused her to do it? They got in her way. You say, “that poor lady.” No. It is “that cruel lady.” Man by nature is cruel. We don’t want to admit it but the Bible plainly teaches that this is the result of Adam’s spiritual death in the Garden of Eden. The way of the transgressor is cruel.
THE WAY OF THE TRANSGRESSOR IS BLIND
Psalms 82:5 says, “They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.” Psalms 107:10 says, “Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron.” Proverbs 4:19 says, “The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.”
These verses tell us that the unsaved are blind. The idea is that they can’t see. Spiritual blindness may be hard to understand. The fact is that they are blind and they are accountable. It is not like they are not responsible. Paul says in 2 Cor. 4:3-4: “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
If they are in darkness and blind, what can they do about it? They must respond to the gospel and the conviction of the Holy Spirit. God will show them the way out if they want it. Psalms 107:14 says, “He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.” Isaiah 9:2 says, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” Isaiah 29:18 says, “And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.” There will not be a man in hell that did not choose to go there by their rejection of the light God gave. The darkness and blindness of the human race is one of choice.
THE WAY OF SALVATION FOR THE TRANSGRESSOR IS PROVIDED
Jesus said in John 12:46: “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.” Jesus plainly says that the purpose for which He came is to give opportunity for those who are in darkness to come out into the light.
It is the way of the gospel. When Paul met Christ on the road to Damascus, He tells us in Acts 26:18 what He called Paul to do: “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”
Men’s eyes are opened through the preaching of the gospel of Christ. Soul winning works. Preaching the gospel works. Most refuse it. But those who believe, Paul says in Colossians 1:13, “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.”
One last thing. There is a sense in which the backsliden Christian can be included in this. Many Christian, like Demas of old, have forsaken the right way and have gone back into the world.. Paul describes this in 2 Timothy 4:10: “For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica.” You can hear the disappointment in Paul’s words as he writes this. Many pastors have been disappointed with Christians who forsook their post of duty because of the love of the world. I could give you the history of the end of many that I have seen make the choice to walk that way. “. . . the way of the transgressor is hard.”
We must choose the right way. What is the right way? Psalm 1:1-3: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”
May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.
In Christ
Bro. White
