The Point of No Return

Start with Prayer---

Note:  For fun I made a street sign to hang on the wall with arrows going in different directions.  One arrow pointing somewhat toward heaven, one toward left (home), one toward the right (church), and one pointing somewhat towards the ground and label it...POINT OF NO RETURN.

Question: Do all roads lead to home as the old adage says, or do we need to choose carefully the path we follow?

In other words, how much thought should we give to the choices we make in life?  I would say (from experience, of course) that much thought must be given to every decision we are to make to prevent making the wrong decision.

The bible says in Proverbs 3:6 (which is your memory verse)

—In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

What a promise we have just by going to the Lord before we make decisions.

The bible talks much about looking to the Lord for direction.  It talks much about the right way and the wrong ways to go; and by the way, “all roads do not lead to home” (that is, your heavenly home).

Every move we make, every decision we make, takes us one step further down life’s dusty road.  The bible says in Matt. 7:13-14 (turn there in your bibles) read and discuss...

...then the very next verse here begins with the word ‘BEWARE’.  Beware of what?  People and things that would lead you astray!

Prov. 4:27 says—Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove they foot from evil.  

We must stay on the straight and narrow, but how?  By removing our foot from evil.  Removing our foot from evil involves consulting God’s word for direction before we make decisions.  Just like I tell Kayla all the time, In life you only get one chance.  One wrong decision or one bad mistake can ruin your life forever.  Some mistakes can cost you your life altogether.  You see the thing about life is that there is no turning back.  Mistakes cannot be undone so the choices we make must be through careful consideration.  Why, because there is (figuratively speaking) “a place of no return”.  

Let’s take a look at some guys in the bible who figured this out the hard way.  

Esau—turn to Hebrews 12:16-17–although Esau was “tricked” into giving up his birthright, he was considered in this scripture and others as being the one in error.  Why?  It’s because he was fleshly, only desiring what would please his flesh.  He lived for the here and now instead of making decisions based on God’s word.  In Hebrews it tells us that Esau found no place of repentance though he sought it carefully with tears.  He just couldn’t change his way of thinking.  He couldn't have a change of heart to live for God. He just could not submit and humble himself to the ways of God and so he had reached his final destination, “the point of no return”.

Judas also, he betrayed Jesus for a mere 30 pieces of silver.  Now Judas felt bad about his actions and even sought to have them undone.  He wanted to give the money back and stop what was happening to Jesus but it was too late.  Oh sure, he could have found Jesus and asked forgiveness, but instead pride stood in the way and Judas committed suicide.  Judas arrived at “the point of no return”.  

How about Cain.  Because of jealousy, Cain killed his own brother.  When God came calling, Cain could’ve said “oh, what have I done, Oh God, please forgive me.  Instead all he could say was “am I my brother’s keeper?”  He had no sorrow of heart at all and Able was dead.  There’s no taking that back for sure.   God banished Cain from his people to “the point of no return”.

Now I have to ask, what happened to these guys?  Why did they do these things?  They knew right from wrong.  They were taught God’s expectations of them from birth.  They were trained up right, so what went wrong?  

All these guys made mistakes stemming from (as Bro. Self. Preached the other night) a wrong spirit that had developed deep inside them.  Did they know better than to do these things?  Absolutely.  How did they get a wrong spirit?  There are lots of questions here as to why.  It all boils down to making the wrong choices when they were faced with decisions.  They did not go to God for direction.  They just did what felt right and by doing so ended up on the roads that lead to the “point of no return”.   They had gotten themselves in places they did not belong but instead of turning back, truly repenting and getting back to the right road, they continued following the path of destruction.  Those men were so ate up with following their fleshly lusts and desires that they just could not find their way back to the Street called Straight.

I guess this lesson could be about repentance or about making right and wrong choices, but in essence it’s about both.  However, I do want to put more emphasis on making right choices so you don’t end up down the wrong road in life.  Everything we do has consequences.  So what should we do to make sure we don’t stray?  Follow God’s word even if you don’t understand it all!!!

Why don’t we cut our hair?  Maybe it’s simply because God’s likes us to have long hair.  Maybe it’s because it makes us unique (no one else but God’s women practice this).  Really it’s a submission to God issue because that’s what he tells us to do.  Am I saying that if you cut your hair it won’t grow back?  No, but every time we do anything against what God asks of us, we are taking a step off of God’s straight and narrow path that leads to life.  Once you cut your hair you cannot glue it back on.  The mistake has been made forever even if it does grow back over time.  

The best advice is to just not take any chances and whatever you do, don’t end up at “the point of no return”!

These men were ate up with jealousy, bitterness, vanity and pride.