A Child Of God

I John 3:1-3

Whose child are you?  There are some unfortunate people who cannot name a parent.  Or they have parents that they might wish were not theirs.  As a child they might imagine some kind and loving parent, one that might magically appear and proclaim that they are their son or daughter, and will bring them into their home.  We can’t pick our human, physical parents, and children who are orphans have very little, if any say in who may adopt or foster them.  Having physical parents is good, but it is even more important to know who our spiritual father is.  And here we definitely have a choice.   Let’s look into our Scripture for today.

As we read in the Bible, there are two spiritual fathers in this world.  There is Yahweh, the one true God, and there is Satan.  One or the other is the spiritual father of everyone on earth.  You are either a child of God, or a child of the devil  Only those who have accepted the Lord Jesus as their Savior and have been born again are a child of God, and can call Him their Father (John 1:12).  Everyone else has Satan as their spiritual father.  People might not like to hear that, as they like to say that everyone is a child of God.  God is certainly the Creator of everyone, and He loves everyone, and wishes that everyone would come to Him for salvation, but only those who come to Him through the shed Blood of Jesus are His children.  Even the Lord Jesus said that people who did not believe in Him were children of the devil (John 8:42-47).  According to God’s Word in our Scripture today, who are we?  If we are saved, we are God’s children.

Some of us have had less than ideal parents, and the word “father” is not one that brings a warm feeling to our hearts.  For some of us, we never knew either a mother or father’s love, and we might not know what to expect from God as our Father.  The Scriptures show us that we have a heavenly Father who is perfect.  Jesus gives us a picture of God as our Father.  He tenderly holds His children in His loving arms, ministering to the sick, showing compassion.  He shows a Father who loves people, listens to prayers, and offers forgiveness.  God, alone, meets our soul’s need to be purely, perfectly, and completely loved (vs. 1).

In many households, children like to imitate their parents.  They want to be just like their mommy or daddy.  A child of God is no different.  As they grow spiritually, reading and studying the Word of God, and allowing the Holy Spirit to be working in their lives, they grow to be more like Jesus.  This is a gradual process, though.  The Christian life is a process of becoming more and more like Jesus.  This process will not be complete until we see Jesus face to face (vs. 2-3).  Knowing that seeing Jesus is our ultimate destiny should motivate us to purify ourselves.  To purify means to keep morally straight, and free from the corruption of sin.  Living in the reality of Jesus’ imminent return should make a difference in a Christian’s behavior. Since Christians will someday be like Him, a desire should grow within us to become more like Him now.

Just because we are not fully like the Lord Jesus right now does not mean that we are any less a child of God right now.  Born again Christians are just as much a child of God now as we will be in heaven.  Knowing that we are His children should encourage us to live as Jesus did.  One day we will exchange our worn out, weak bodies for new ones, patterned after Jesus’ resurrection Body - strong, ageless, and free from sin (I Corinthians 15:42-57).  One day we will see God face to face, and we will be like Him.  Until then, we are “under construction”.

One further item to note from this Scripture passage is that the Apostle John told believers that the world does not know or accept them because they did not know or accept the Lord Jesus (vs. 1).  Many of us have felt, at one time or another, the scorn of unbelievers against us.  We don’t fit in with the world, and definitely feel out of place in many situations because of our faith.  Jesus said, as recorded in John 15:18, that the world hated Him, and it will hate His children, Christians, as well.  Jesus stressed the connection between how the world relates to God and how it will relate to true Christians.

So, whose child are you?  If you cannot answer with full assurance that you are God’s child, do not delay a moment longer and accept Jesus as your personal Savior, and become part of His family!

A Table Prepared For Us

Psalm 23:5

The psalm selection this week from the Lectionary of the Book of Common Prayer is the well-beloved Psalm 23.  There is so much one can pull out of this psalm to study and meditate on.  Countless sermons can, and have been written on this psalm.  Rather than just lightly skimming over the psalm, (and surely it is worth more than that), I will focus on just one verse, and pull out some nuggets of thought to ponder on.

Throughout both the Old and New Testaments we often read of Yahweh pictured as a Divine Shepherd, and His people as sheep in His flock.  One of the titles of the Lord Jesus is that of the Good Shepherd.  Not everyone is one of God’s sheep, as only those who have a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus are a part of the flock.  Yahweh is not an uncaring or cruel shepherd, but is a loving One, which we especially see in Psalm 23.  Many people like to say that their favorite verse in this psalm is verse 4, where we read that God goes with us through the valley of the shadow of death, followed by verse 6, where we read of goodness and mercy following us throughout our life.  Nestled in between those two verses is verse 5, which often gets less attention, but which we will look at closer today.

This verse begins with a declaration from David, the author of this psalm, that the Lord prepares a table before him in the presence of his enemies.  Have you ever had an enemy, someone who really hated you, and would have loved to see you brought down?  David had several throughout his life.  One thing in particular about an enemy is that they don’t want to see anything good happen to you.  They would rather see you fall.  They want bad things to happen to you.  They would gloat to see you humiliated.  So how would they feel if they heard you got a special invitation to a dinner at the White House?  Or even more prestigious, an invitation to dinner at Windsor Castle with the king?  That would sure show them!  Greater than the president or the king is the Lord Jesus, God of the whole universe, and as we read, He has prepared a table for us in the presence of our enemies.  His table is filled with the most delectable foods, and He has prepared it for us.  There is no going away hungry from God’s table!  Right now our enemies may feel like they have the upper hand, but there is coming a day when the Lord will show the world just how beloved His children are to Him.

Next we read in this verse how the Lord anoints our head with oil.  What does that mean?  Do I really want to go around with a greasy, oily head?  This is a very symbolic phrase, which would have meant a lot more to someone in Biblical times than today.  As we know, this is a psalm about how the Lord is our Shepherd.  In the days of the Bible a shepherd would pour oil on the heads of the sheep before they would go out to graze.  It would soak into the wool, and it would keep pesky insects away.  Insects would buzz around the sheep’s head, sometimes trying to lay their eggs in their nose and ears.  The oil would protect the sheep from them.  Also, if a sheep would get cut or scratched from thorns, branches or rocks while out grazing, the oil would soothe and cleanse these minor wounds.

In addition, oil was frequently used by the priests and others to pour on someone that they were giving a blessing to.  As God’s children, He anoints and blesses us throughout life.  As believers we have the Holy Spirit, who anoints us with His blessings and power when we walk close to Him in obedience.  God’s anointing gives us blessings and protection throughout life.  In the ancient Middle East it was customary to anoint guests with fragrant oil.  Hosts would also protect their guests at all costs.  God promises to protect us even as enemies surround us.

Verse 5 closes with David’s proclamation that his cup is running over.  His cup isn’t just full, it is running over with abundance.  This pictures God’s abundant blessings upon him, and upon us, as well.  Yahweh is not a stingy God.  He doesn’t just pour a little into our cup, into our lives, and tell us that is it.  He doesn’t give us just a third or a half a cup.  The Lord pours His blessings upon us till the cup overflows.  He is the God of more than enough!  He provides for our every need, even before our need arises.  We will never experience a need that God will not supply.

As we see throughout Psalm 23, and today in verse 5 in particular, Yahweh is our Good Shepherd.  To a good shepherd, the sheep are worth dying for, if necessary.  He will put himself between the sheep and danger without a second thought.  The Lord Jesus, who is the true Good Shepherd, did just that for us when He took our sins upon Himself, and died upon the Cross for our salvation.  Now He has given all those who have accepted Him as Savior a table prepared for them, anointing them with oil, and filling their cup to overflowing with His blessings!

A Boldness To Witness

Acts 4:23-31

Picture yourself, you are doing the job that you were supposed to do, and along comes some enemies, someone who is bigger, stronger, and more powerful than you are.  They grab a hold of you, speak a lot of threats, and then fortunately let you go.  You know that they could really clobber you if they wanted to, but this time they let you go.  Would we do whatever we could to avoid any further trouble?  If they told us to keep our mouth shut, is that what we’d do to avoid a fight?  We remember that they are more powerful, so would we lay low and try to be less conspicuous?  In our Scripture today, which continues the account of the early days of the Apostles, following Jesus’ Ascension and Day of Pentecost, when they first ran into trouble from the Sanhedrin, the Jewish legal authorities.  Let’s continue with this narrative of the very early days of the Apostles and the Church, and see how they responded to some serious threats against them.

Earlier, in chapter 3 of Acts, Peter and James had healed, in the Name of Jesus, a poor man who had been crippled from birth. This miracle had attracted a large crowd, and Peter used the opportunity to speak to the group about Jesus.  However that did not sit well with the religious leaders, who quickly took the two into custody.  There they questioned them, threatened them, and sternly warned them to stop speaking to others about Jesus.  They were then let go with further warnings to not preach in the Name of Jesus.

These weren’t exactly idle threats that the Sanhedrin made to Peter and John.  This was the group that just a couple of months earlier had arrested the Lord Jesus, and convinced the Roman governor Pontius Pilate to have executed.  They were a very powerful group, and the apostles had absolutely no power against them.  This was just the beginning, as opposition against the Lord Jesus and the Church existed right from the very start.  The two returned to their fellow believers, and told them all that had happened, and what the chief priests and elders had said (vs. 23).

The disciples now had a choice to make.  Would they obey the Sanhedrin and just keep quiet about Jesus?  After all, as many say, religion is a personal matter, and they could just let their lives “speak” a message.  They could pack up and leave town, and maybe have better luck in Galilee.  The disciples did the right thing, and that was to get down on their knees and bring this situation before the Lord in prayer (vs. 24-30).

Peter and John’s experience did not frighten or discourage the other disciples, but exhilarated them.  They took confidence in God’s sovereign control of all events, including suffering.  In prayer the disciples first praised God.  Then they told Him their specific problem, asking for His help.  The disciples saw what had just occurred as a fulfillment of Psalm 2:1-2 (vs. 25-26).  They didn’t ask God to remove the problem, but to help them deal with it, which is a model to follow.

This is a prayer that we can learn from when we might face opposition to our work for the Lord.  They did not pray for God to bring destruction on the religious leaders.  We might be tempted to pray something like that against our enemies, those who oppose us or bully us in any manner. However, that’s not how these early Christians prayed.  Nor did they ask God to take them out of their time of trouble.  Instead, they asked God to consider the threats they faced, and for Him to give them boldness to speak out further.  They did not want to hide in fear, keeping their mouths shut, and they did not want to escape out the back door.  The Lord Jesus had given them a commission to go into the world and preach the Gospel, and so they asked Him for more boldness in the face of threats and opposition.  Boldness is not impulsive recklessness.  It is courage to press on through our fears, and to do what we know is right.

When the disciples were through praying, God showed them in a very specific way that He had heard their prayer and would answer it (vs. 31).  He filled them with the Holy Spirit, and also shook the building they were in, like a mini little non-damaging, non-harmful earthquake.  This was reminiscent of what had occurred a few months earlier on the day of Pentecost, and reminded them that the Holy Spirit was present with them (Acts 2:1-4).

The disciples were not afraid, they were not going to run scared, but instead the Holy Spirit gave them boldness to speak the Word of God.  When we face opposition for doing the work of the Lord, for speaking out to others in the Name of Jesus, we can come to Him in prayer, as well, and receive similar boldness and fearlessness.  The disciples knew, as we can know, as well, that God is sovereign and always in control.

Open Your Eyes

Luke 24:36-48

Have you ever looked for something, searched all over, and there it was, right in front of you, right out in the open all along?  That’s happened to a lot of us, I’m sure.  Our eyes were open, but we weren’t really seeing what was right in front of us.   It can cause problems when we don’t see what is right in front of us, and we aren’t paying attention.  When we don’t see the snake in the grass because we aren’t paying attention, we can get bit.  When we aren’t alert when driving we might not make it home alive.  Sometimes when our mind and eyes refuse to see, we end up with spiritual blindness.  That is the sort of condition that the disciples found themselves in our Scripture today.  Let’s see what happened.

As our Scripture passage today opens it is the evening of the day of Resurrection.  Earlier, Jesus had appeared to two disciples who were walking to their home in Emmaus.  Now He came to appear to the eleven apostles.  After hearing the testimony of the women who had gone to the grave and reported the message of the angels there, along with the testimony from the two from Emmaus just moments before, we might think that now when they were seeing Jesus Himself, they would now recognize Him, rejoice, and be at peace.  However, as we read, they were terrified, thinking they were seeing a ghost (vs. 36-37).  They were seeing Jesus, but they weren’t really seeing with faith.  They needed to open their spiritual eyes.

Jesus then gave them some more reassurance.  He didn’t harshly chastise them for their lack of faith.  Instead, He asked why they were troubled, showed them the nail prints in His hands and feet (vs. 38-40).  The disciples still had blinders on their eyes and minds, so Jesus went a step further.  He asked for some food to eat in their presence, as they were possibly still believing that He was a ghost (vs. 41-43).  Their eyes were seeing, but their mind was not believing.  One characteristic of a ghost is that it is not solid.  Jesus was solid, flesh and bones.  Also ghosts don’t eat, yet Jesus ate some food with them.  They needed to open their spiritual eyes and see the Lord Jesus standing right in front of them, eating some food.

When the disciples saw Jesus on the evening of His resurrection, they were troubled.  They were distressed, agitated, and anxious.  Being in that state robs us of the peace that we can have in the Savior.  Having our spiritual eyes closed will lead to fear, doubts, discouragement, and despair, and will lead to having a lack of faith.

It took the disciples a little while, but they did come to believe what was right in front of their eyes.  They knew that Jesus had been crucified, had died, and was buried.  And now, just as He had told them earlier, He was risen from the dead and standing in front of them.  They saw the nail prints that He showed them.  This was evidence that it was really Him, and not someone who looked like Him.  Those nail prints were also evidence of the love Jesus has given.  We are engraved as scars on His hands (Isaiah 49:15-16).

Now that they were seeing and believing, Jesus opened their understanding so that they could more readily understand the Scriptures (vs. 44-45).  We need God’s help, which comes through the Holy Spirit, to truly understand the Bible.  That is why sometimes when we are talking to someone who is unsaved, and we quote a Bible verse or two to them, they just stare at us blankly.  They can’t understand.  Their eyes are physically open, but they can’t see, they are spiritually blind.

For us to see and understand Jesus in the Scriptures, we need our eyes opened.  The two disciples on the road to Emmaus needed their eyes opened to see that it was Jesus.  Here, too, the disciples' eyes needed to be opened to see that it was Jesus.  One psalmist even prays that God opens his eyes when reading Scripture (Psalm 119:18).  Without opened eyes, the Bible can seem like a legalistic code.  With eyes opened, God can reveal Himself to us.

Good News For The Sinner

I John 1:8 - 2:2

Today’s message is on a topic that is not a very popular one to discuss, whether among each other, and certainly not from most pulpits.  That topic is sin.  Most people don’t like to hear about sin, especially their own sins.  Many pastors are loath to talk about sin from the pulpits in their sermon messages.  They are afraid to step on anyone’s toes, offend them, or lose their interest, so that they stop attending.  However, that is a message that needs to be told, and it is my topic today.  With the Scripture selection today, there is much good news, so this is not a completely negative topic or message.  Let’s look into God’s Word.

As mentioned, sin is not a favorite topic.  Many people are resistant, and opposed to admitting that they are sinners.  They will say that since they never murdered anyone, or robbed a bank, they aren’t sinners.  And it has become popular today in some groups and with progressive thinkers to say that there is no black and white with regards to sin.  Everything is various shades of gray.  What one person calls a sin, another may say that they don’t consider it a sin, so it is not a sin to them.  Let’s be clear, what the Bible, God’s Word, calls a sin, what it says is wrong, then it is a sin and it’s wrong.  And God has said that everyone has sinned (Romans 3:23).  If we are honest with ourselves, we will readily admit that we all have sinned.  Those who say otherwise are deceiving themselves, trying to deceive others, and are not being truthful (vs. 8).  They are also calling God a liar (vs. 10), as His Word very clearly says that all have sinned, not just some.

All people are sinners by nature and by practice.  The first step in order to be saved is to admit that one is a sinner.  If someone never admits to being a sinner, salvation cannot result.  Do not be deceived.  We all are sinners who need to be saved by grace.  Even after we get saved we still sin and need to confess.  Every day we sin and do things that offend God.  We need to confess them to Him, and receive His forgiveness.   Yes, sin is bad news, it is depressing, and people don’t want to hear it.  However, we have some good news in verse 9, very good news.  God promises us in His Word that if we confess our sins, He will forgive us, and cleanse us from the sin-stains.  We can come to Him every time we do something wrong, every time we mess up, and He has promised to forgive us.  It is best to keep a clean record, and not let unconfessed sins pile up.  Confess and forsake them, and God will cleanse us.  Doing so removes the barrier to fellowship that our sins put up between us and God (Psalm 66:18-19).

When we do something wrong, we have to face the consequences and take the punishment.  Sometimes we might even need to hire an attorney to represent us in court.  When we stand before the Lord God, guilty of all sorts of sins, we have the best possible Attorney, the Lord Jesus Christ (vs. 1).  Jesus is our Advocate, our Defense Attorney.  Satan continually prosecutes believers before the Father, due to our sin.  However, Jesus’ High Priestly ministry guarantees our acquittal (Hebrews 4:14-16).

After becoming a Christian we still retain our sin nature.  We do not have “sinless perfection”.  The person who makes such claims makes God a liar because God’s Word says otherwise.  Nor does confessing sin and receiving forgiveness give us a license to continue to sin casually and indiscriminately.  Our sinful tendencies should be conquered through the power of the Holy Spirit.

As the Apostle John continues, he says that Jesus is the “propitiation” for our sins (vs 2).  That is a big word, one not generally in our vocabulary every day, or usually ever.  It means “appeasement” or “satisfaction”.  The sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross satisfied the demands of God’s holiness for the punishment of sin.  Jesus died for everyone in general, but each person must individually accept Him for themselves.  If they don’t, they are not saved, and will not see heaven.

In closing, there are many churches today that want to put less, or even no emphasis on sin and other “negative” aspects of Christianity.  They say that God loves us all, and that Jesus accepts everyone just the way they are.  They tell us not to judge, and don’t make anyone feel bad by pointing out sin.  Jesus did accept people the way they were, but He didn’t leave them that way.  He told sinners, after He forgave them, to “go and sin no more”.  The good news here is that Jesus is our Defense Attorney.  His death satisfied God’s justice.  When we confess our sins, He promises to forgive.  This isn’t bad news, it is good news!

A New Song Of Praise

Psalm 98

Easter should still be fresh in our memory, as it was just over two weeks ago.  It is a holy day of great rejoicing for Christians, and our psalm for this week is one of great rejoicing, as well.  Believers and followers of the Lord Jesus should be people of joy.  Let’s take a quick, brief look at this short psalm of praise.

As Psalm 98 opens, the author calls on us to sing a new song to the Lord.  There are so many things to praise the Lord for, so many blessings we have received.  There is always something new to praise Him for.  And with so many songs and hymns of praise, whether we prefer traditional or more contemporary worship music, we could sing a different one every day for quite a while!

Our psalmist gives us some reasons for praising the Lord.  One is quite obvious, and that is because God has done marvelous things (vs. 1).  Look around the world, especially with springtime upon us, and we can find so many marvelous things that God has done.  He doesn’t do mediocre things, or sloppy things.  When we look at the workmanship of so many things today, that is frequently what we find - mediocre and even sloppy quality.  But not with what God does, for our God does marvelous things!

When we look back at the events that led up to the crucifixion of Jesus, we know that He was in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, which He did every year.  All faithful Jewish people would try to go to Jerusalem for that celebration.  What was that holy festival, what did it commemorate?  That celebration was to commemorate the last of the ten plagues God had brought on the Egyptians, when God “passed over” the houses marked with the blood of a lamb, but striking down the first born of those who weren’t marked.  Immediately following that, the people of Israel fled Egypt, and the Lord parted the water of the Red Sea for them to cross on dry ground.  God’s right hand and His holy arm got the victory over His enemies (vs. 1).

Again, after Jesus was crucified and buried, His enemies thought that they had succeeded in stopping Him for good.   But on the third day, that Sunday morning, Jesus rose from the dead  His right hand and His holy arm gained Him the victory over Satan and over death!  There are so many instances all throughout both the Old and New Testament where we see that God gets the victory over Satan and His enemies.  As one reads through the final book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation, we see very clearly that Jesus gets the final victory!

Another thing to praise God for, quite an important thing, is His salvation, which He has brought to us through the shed Blood of His Son Jesus upon the cross (vs. 2-3).  Salvation wasn’t, and isn’t for just a select few.  It is for all people at all times.  His parting words to the disciples was that they were to go into all the world, telling anyone and everyone the Gospel message of salvation.  God has made it known.  It isn’t kept secret for just a select few.  We can, and should, be a part of that, making salvation through Jesus known to all the ends of the earth, as well.

Next we see the psalmist instruct us to sing God’s praises with all sorts of musical instruments, a whole orchestra full (vs. 4-6).  The people are to shout and sing with music before the Lord, the King.  One favorite subject of mine is studying royalty, particularly the British royalty, from the present day to going all the way back to the days of the Anglo-Saxon kings.  Though not so much today, but there were several periods of time when the monarchs really went all out with pomp and ceremony.  The king would enter a great hall, and the trumpets and horns would ring out, announcing his arrival.  The composer Handel wrote some very celebratory music for both King George I and II, music that was to be played when the former rode his royal barge down the Thames, and when the latter hosted celebratory royal fireworks.  If grand music can accompany earthly royalty, then certainly we should play joyful and triumphant music for the Lord God!

As our psalm closes, the psalmist proclaims that all of nature will rejoice and sing their praises to the Lord (vs. 7-9).  The sea, the rivers, and the hills will all join together with creation to praise the Lord.  He will be coming to judge the earth, and when He enters He deserves an even grander celebratory praise than any earthly king!

No Other Name

Acts 4:5-12

There is a common phrase that many of you might have heard, or some variation of, and that is that there are many pathways that lead to God.  Those who say this believe that it doesn’t matter what way you choose, it doesn’t matter what religion you believe, what religious leader and teachings you follow, because they all lead to God.  Our Scripture today contains a message from Peter, the chief of the Apostles, which exposes this for the lie that it is, a malevolent and damning false teaching.  This isn’t a popular message among many people, but as it is God’s Word, we must listen to it.

Just prior to our Scripture beginning, the apostles Peter and John had prayed and healed a man crippled from birth in the Name of Jesus (Acts 3:1-10).  This caused quite a stir in Jerusalem, and soon came to notice of the religious leaders, who were quite upset.  They had thought that by executing Jesus, His power and influence would also have died, but it hadn’t.  Peter and John were taken into custody and were asked by what power or name they had performed this miracle (vs. 7).  Only a few months earlier Peter had denied knowing Jesus.  Now, filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter boldly stood up for Jesus in front of the entirety of the ruling body of Israel, and gave his answer (vs. 8-12).  The Apostle clearly stated that the miracle was done in the Name of Jesus, and that salvation is only through the Name of Jesus (vs. 12).

Peter said that the Jews had rejected Jesus, but now He has become the Cornerstone of the Church (Psalm 118:22; Mark 12:10; I Peter 2:7).  Without Him there would be no Church, nor salvation.   The Bible unequivocally states that Jesus, alone, holds the key to salvation, and in fact He is salvation.  God, through His Word, says that if one is going to be accepted into heaven, one must be clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ (Matthew 22:1-14).  That is not an option.  That is an imperative.  Whoever has accepted Jesus as Savior will have eternal life.  If they haven’t, then they do not go to heaven (I John 5:12).  Salvation is found in no other Name.

This truth offends many people, including some who claim to be Christians.  They say that we all need to be “inclusive”, and thus we need to say that any and all beliefs will lead us to God.  However, the Bible, God’s Word, clearly states that every path does not lead to God. It clearly says that Jesus is the only way of salvation, and those who reject Him will not have eternal life (John 10:9-10; John 14:6; I John 2:23).  Jesus said that the world will hate true Christians for believing that He is the Son of God, and the only way of salvation (John 15:18).  Jesus did not say that He was one of the ways to God.  He said that He was the Way (John 14:6).  To say otherwise goes against Scripture, and I will never do that.

There is a black and white, not just shades of gray.  There is a definite right and wrong, a truth and falsehood, not just “what is truth for me.”  The Name of Jesus Christ is the center of contention (vs. 7, 10, 12), and will always be.  Salvation for everyone, both Jew and Gentile alike, is exclusively through the Name of Jesus.

In closing, let me give this example that a former pastor of mine once said.  About 15 miles north of where I live is Chicago’s O’Hare Airport.  It is a very large and busy airport, with about 74 million passengers traveling through each year.  There are four streets that surround the airport grounds, Irving Park Rd on the south, York Rd on the west, Touhy Ave. on the north, and Mannheim Rd. on the east.  Yet there is only one way for passengers to get into the airport, and it is not through any of those roads.  The only way to get into the airport is by I-190, the westernmost leg of the Kennedy Expressway.  You can see the airport quite clearly from the four other streets.  You can watch all the planes take off and land from them, but you have no access to the airport.  You can drive around and around the airport on those roads, but you won’t get in.  If you try to climb the fence you will quickly find yourself, not in the airport, but sitting in a police station.  The same is with heaven.  All those other ways will just take you around and around, but not into heaven.  There is only one way, and that is through the Lord Jesus Christ.  Be sure you are on the right path, the right Way, and that is through Jesus!