Overview
This teaching examines “The Road Less Traveled” through Luke 6, John 4, Hosea 4, Jeremiah 2, showing how light, life, like shape a believer’s relationship with God, daily choices, and service to others.
Transcript
Understanding The Road Less Traveled
We can choose the road that is less traveled. That’s a line from a poem by Robert Frost and and in this poem, he wrote that or he had commented that that made all the difference in his life. We don’t have to go the way that the world goes.
So many in the world are are swayed one way or another. You know, over the past number of weeks has been a lot of news about the upcoming presidential election. Both candidates are talking about the need for for change with statements like, you know, we can decide to take action or we can just let things remain as they are, you know, we they’ve said we’ve come to a crossroads in our country.
You know, and it’s crossroads, which is what reminded me of this choosing the road less traveled. We don’t have to fall in to the thinking and especially the emotions that can sometimes be so upfront. People feel like they’ve got to speak about their candidate and and they put all their confidence in choosing one person or one party or another.
Really, our confidence is in God, much like this. These couple of storms that recently came through the the Florida and Carolinas area of our country. You know, the the media wants to sensationalize everything and they and they want to make it appear like this is, you know, the this is the biggest thing that’s ever happened.
And, you know, we know that God helps us to keep things in perspective that God, like he just reminded us in the manifestation of Holy Spirit. He protects us. He watches over us.
He hears our prayer. He doesn’t want us to feel like we are at this critical point in life and and we’re bound to make a mistake and and have severe consequences. He will continue to provide for us.
We have a distinct advantage over so many people who are faced with the emotions and this the news that’s in their face every day because because we have confidence in God. We have been taught and are continuing to be taught how to read and understand God’s word to to grasp his heart. There’s great power in knowing the truth.
The Bible makes us aware of makes us aware of the spiritual realities in life. There’s a spiritual competition that that rages around us whether we acknowledge it or not. And yet the competition.
Has already been one Jesus Christ led captivity captive. He conquered the enemy. By his amazing life.
As he learned from as early as he could begin to understand who he was who he is. And then continue to to understand through his formative years who his father is who our father is. And that that’s where life really exists.
That’s what we have to look forward to. To try to appreciate how much of an advantage we have in knowing the truth. There’s a great section.
The Biblical Foundation
If you go to Luke chapter 6. Jesus Christ wanted his followers to to realize that to understand God to walk with God is he compares it to someone that’s blind compared to someone that can see. And that’s quite a contrast. I cannot imagine.
What it must be like to go through life blind. You know, we count on. Each day when the sun comes up to be able to see around us.
When we drive in our cars, it’s much easier to drive. During the daytime. Then during the nighttime.
And even then we’re not blind at the nighttime. We just are limited because there’s not as much light. But imagine if there’s no light how difficult it would be.
Here in Luke chapter 6. Look at verse 29 39. Luke 6 39 and he spake a parable unto them. Can the blind lead the blind? Shall they not both fall into the ditch? The disciple is not above his master.
But everyone that is perfect shall be as his master. Now perfect sometimes in the old English. They use the word perfect, but it just means mature.
It doesn’t mean someone that’s flawless. You know, we they they that word perfect has been changed over the last 400 years when the King James was written, but it’s it just means someone that’s mature. So.
Let’s keep reading in verse 41 and why behold this the moat that is in thy brother’s eye, but perceive is not the beam that is in thine own eye. See doesn’t that describe the media that describe what we see around us with these elections coming up that people are so quick to try and point out the faults in one another and they don’t even realize the their own faults and they say we’ve got to go this direction or another direction and I caution you not to fall into that not to to use especially this platform where we come to hear the word as an opportunity to try and get people to side with you and we need to vote for this person or that person. That’s that can bring about division.
It’s throughout time. It’s brought about division. You know you in the first century time of Jesus Christ there was hatred amongst.
God’s people Israel represented the 10 tribes that 10 of the 12 tribes that formed after Abraham and Isaac and Jacob Jacob’s name was changed to Israel. He had 12 sons and over the course of time following 10 of the sons separated and then there was two that Judah and Benjamin formed their own group. And so you had this conflict that raged amongst brothers and by the time we got to the first century the Judeans who were their center was Jerusalem.
They hated the Samaritans which were their other their brothers and so much so that they could not even walk through the land of Samaria without getting unclean. That’s that’s what had transpired over the course of time. There’s some real hatred there for that to happen and Jesus Christ came and and during the course of his ministry tried to show people you don’t want to think like this.
These people up in Samaria are just as wonderful as you are and there’s records in John chapter 4 where he’s taken his disciples from Jerusalem up to Galilee and he takes him right through Samaria matter of fact they spend time in Samaria because he showed them that these were not bad people. It’s just that the world had tried to separate them and form these divisions and that’s such a big deal that we don’t fall into that. Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch? Go to Hosea back in the Old Testament Hosea to go to Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes Song of Solomon Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel Hosea and we’re going to go to Hosea chapter 4 please.
Examples and Spiritual Lessons
Here I love this verse and it’s a one of the early verses I learned when I began to learn how to read the Bible and we’ll pick it up in verse 6. It says my people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. See that’s really a succinct statement that people get they get their lives caught up in and really in many cases wasted destroyed because they don’t have a knowledge and in this case we’re talking about a knowledge of the word. To not have a knowledge of the word is like being blind.
It says in the word that God is light. And in him is no darkness at all. So God can light our path God can can show us the way to go so we don’t have to stumble around in the dark.
Look at Jeremiah just go back a few books to Jeremiah. And in Jeremiah go to chapter 2 Jeremiah 2 here. It’s put a different way.
It says in verse 13 for my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and hewed them out cisterns which are containers broken cisterns that can hold no water. Well water is necessary for life and here a contrast is being presented that with God we have the necessities of life.
We have the water that’s so essential to life. But when we don’t have God we’ve got these containers that are broken. A fountain is constantly flowing.
The water is always available. But a cistern is a limited amount. It’s however much the container can hold and if the container is cracked or broken it can’t hold anything.
So just the time you need the water it’s not there and so you’re disappointed. So you’re destroyed you’re destroyed for lack of knowledge. It said in Hosea you’ve you’re committed to evils and you just have not the life-giving essence that you need.
Look at Jeremiah 17. Jeremiah again in this chapter 17 uses an example of water. In verse 5 Jeremiah 17 5 thus said the Lord curse be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm and whose heart departed from the Lord.
So here’s a contrast we’re going to see that the man that that just is trusting in mankind maybe it’s himself maybe it’s other men but he’s not trusting in God. And from what we just saw earlier this puts him in a state of blindness. But it goes on in verse 6 for he shall be like the heath or the shrub in the desert and shall not see when good cometh.
Well, there’s a description of blind, right? You can’t see when the good is coming but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness in a salt land and not inhabited. So if you can’t see and you just put your trust in man you can end up into these places that are uninhabitable these places where it’s not where life is not abounding and where there’s much lack. Now compare this to verse 7 blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is for he shall be as a tree planted by the waters and that spreadeth out her roots by the river and shall not see when the heat cometh.
In other words doesn’t get phased when there’s heat when there’s warmth because there’s an abundant supply of water. The tree can survive and flourish because it’s planted by the water its roots go down and they get the water from the river. And so it doesn’t even bother it when there’s heat matter of fact it goes on to say but her leaf shall be green and shall not be careful or anxious in the year of drought neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
Faith in Action
Well, that’s quite a contrast right living in an uninhabitable places of salt desert land where there’s no water. There’s there’s no sustenance. There’s no fruit or do you want to live where there’s an abundance of water and where the tree will continue to yield fruit.
I mean, it’s a stark contrast. We have that option. We have that ability to to live like that.
That’s what the word provides for us. When we choose the road that is less traveled. It’s not the popular route for people to trust God.
So often people want to trust man. They follow man because quite honestly man’s voice is pretty loud in their ears. We have to decide what we’re going to pay attention to.
We don’t have to have the TV on 24-7 or the our cell phones constantly in our face. We don’t have to have all that. I’m not saying you can’t watch TV or you can’t have your cell phone, but it gets to be where people are addicted to what the world wants to feed them.
And let’s how about considering what God has for us. Go to the book of Acts, please. Acts.
And we’re going to go to 26. Acts 26. The apostle Paul got to write this and he had to learn how to pay attention to God.
Sometimes the world that grabs our attention can be the religious aspect of the world. These people that tell you what you should and shouldn’t do and they’re based on religion that’s so often just man-made. And that’s going to be or produce the same results that we just read about.
Here in Acts 26, Paul is recounting what happened to him. We’re going to pick it up in verse 12, where upon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests. See, so he was very much motivated by the religious leaders, the chief priests.
This is what he felt was the way to go. This was the road to travel. At midday, verse 13, at midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun shining round about me and them which journey with me.
So here’s God. God is light. And so he sees this bright light.
Walking in Love and Confidence
It’s attracting his attention. It’s grabbing his attention. And when we were fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecuted thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
Now this is Paul at this time. His name used to be Saul, but he changed it. And Saul was the name of the first king of Israel.
It was a very honored name. Paul, on the other hand, meant little one. That’s Paul’s humility.
He changed from the name of the first king of Israel. No, no, I’ll be called Paul. He became a very humble man.
And so here he’s traveling with all authority from the religious leaders. And he’s very confident in what he’s doing. And now he’s going to realize that he’s on the wrong road.
Saul, Saul, why persecuted thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said, who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. He had heard of Jesus.
Matter of fact, he was on his way to Damascus. This record is recorded in Acts chapter nine. He’s recounting it here in Acts 26.
He was going to take these men and women that were followers of Jesus Christ and bring them to prison. So he’d heard about Jesus. And now he’s finding out who he really is.
So I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. So Paul is on this route. And he’s going to get these people.
And now he encounters, by revelation, Jesus Christ. Verse 16. But rise and stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen and of those things in the which I shall appear unto thee, declaring or delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom now I send thee.
So here he’s encountering Jesus Christ and saying, I’ve got a road that I want you to follow. It’s not the popular route you’ve been on. It’s not the route that all your religious upbringing has led you to be on.
Applying the Teaching in Daily Life
This is a new road I want you to travel. Verse 18. Or verse 17.
Delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom I now send thee to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light. See, the blind can’t lead the blind. We need light.
And that’s what Jesus Christ is telling Paul. We need light. And you’re going to have the privilege to be that light, to show people the light, to take them from the power of darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins, which let’s just stop there.
Forgiveness of sins is associated with the darkness. When we are caught up in sin consciousness, we’re walking in darkness. God does not want us to walk with this ever present understanding and holding onto our sins, our mistakes.
He wants us to know the Prince of Peace that brought us forgiveness of sins. So we don’t have to have those blindfolds on our eyes. We’re not sinful men and women.
We are his children. We are just like the child that’s in bed crying in the middle of the night and the mother or father comes to their bedside and says, don’t worry, I’m right here. That was just a dream.
Don’t worry about it. I’m right with you. You are protected.
That’s what God wants for us. It’s incredible. That’s what Paul has the privilege here of hearing from Jesus Christ, that he can help people.
Your commission is going to be to open their eyes from darkness, 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 the faith that is in me. That’s the commissioning that Paul has received. And he’s held onto this commissioning.
Years earlier in Acts chapter nine is when this event happened. And he’s still recounting this years later when he’s in front of the religious men and women that he used to company with. It’s incredible.
Go to Proverbs, please. Proverbs chapter 16. We can choose the road that is not the popular route, the road that is less traveled.
And again, like Robert Frost wrote, that can make all the difference. In Proverbs 16, and look here, let’s go to verse 25. Proverbs 16, 25.
A Life Shaped by God’s Word
There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Paul thought he was on the right path. And many people get caught up in this emotion of this day and time, and they think they’re doing the greatest service to go and belittle anyone that doesn’t think like they do, to criticize them, to tell them they’re foolish if they’re not thinking the way that I think, or the way that the world is thinking.
This is not the right path to be on. That’s the wrong road. We can choose to go a different way.
Go back to the gospel of Matthew. Matthew 7. Jesus Christ wanted people to get to know God, his father, who is light, and to see the contrast that’s so stark between darkness and light, between being blind and being able to see. In Matthew 7, verse 13.
Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. That’s the popular route. It says it’s wide.
It’s the gate that most people go in. That’s the road that’s very well traveled, that leadeth to destruction. And many there be which go in there at, because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
There’s the road less traveled. We can choose not to go the popular route, not to follow the crowd. In our thinking, in our emotions, we can choose to go the narrow way that leads to life.
And that narrow way is not so narrow you can’t find it. It’s just choosing to trust God, choosing to go the way that God has laid out. The right way is not to go the most popular route.
But Jesus Christ said to his followers, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the father but by me. It’s our privilege to lead people from darkness to light, to lead ourselves from darkness to light.
We give people the opportunity to gain some spiritual understanding, and to follow us that are pursuing this narrow way that leads to life, and to be like those trees that are planted by the rivers of water, that even when heat cometh, it says when there’s a drought, there’s going to be challenges that come up. There’s going to be hurricanes. There’s going to be other opportunities that arise.
But even when these come up, we are planted with our roots in the water, and fruit from the trees that are around us, so we can survive abundantly. It’s pretty incredible. Well, that’s the way that’s chosen that can make all the difference.
Father, I thank you for your goodness, for your grace, for your love for us, that you’ve given us your word, and that we can learn more and more how to just turn to you, to not get caught up with the popular thinking around us, to not be tempted to try and get sided with one group or another, but just to keep that steady pace of walking with you, of continuing to check with you along the way, to come to your word, to come to you with our prayer life, and to just ask for your guidance and your direction, knowing that you full well will give it to us. Thanks, Father, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Key Takeaways
- There’s some real hatred there for that to happen and Jesus Christ came and and during the course of his ministry tried to show people you don’t want to think like this.
- To not have a knowledge of the word is like being blind.
- It says in the word that God is light.
- So God can light our path God can can show us the way to go so we don’t have to stumble around in the dark.
- Well water is necessary for life and here a contrast is being presented that with God we have the necessities of life.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the main message of “The Road Less Traveled”?
This teaching examines “The Road Less Traveled” through Luke 6, John 4, Hosea 4, Jeremiah 2, showing how light, life, like shape a believer’s relationship with God, daily choices, and service to others.
Which scriptures are central to this teaching?
The teaching draws especially from Luke 6, John 4, Hosea 4, Jeremiah 2, Jeremiah 17.
How can believers apply this teaching?
Believers can receive the truth presented, verify it in Scripture, and put it into practice with faith, humility, love, and consistent action.
Scripture References
Luke 6; John 4; Hosea 4; Jeremiah 2; Jeremiah 17; Acts 26
This text was prepared from the teaching audio or source document. Please verify scripture references against your own Bible.
