The Covenant Way

Genesis 50:20; Romans 8:28
Richard Spencer | Sunday, June 25, 2023
Copyright © 2023, Richard Spencer

You have all heard the metaphor comparing life to a journey. And a common theme in supposed human wisdom was expressed by the late folk-rock singer Harry Chapin in his song, Greyhound. He concluded the song about a trip on a Greyhound bus by saying, “It’s got to be the going not the getting there that’s good”. He even thought that statement was so profound that he added, “That’s a thought for keeping if I could, It’s got to be the going not the getting there that’s good”. A more highbrow version of the same theme was expressed by the famous Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson when he said, “I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.”

Now, we must admit that those of us who occasionally enjoy travelling can relate to this sentiment, at least a little bit. Sometimes you travel just for enjoyment and to see new things. But as a metaphor for life, this view is fatally flawed. Life is a real journey in the ultimate sense; meaning that it has a destination and getting to the destination is the main point of the journey. It isn’t just wandering around to see what you can see.

Given that the destination is the important thing, the road you take matters a great deal; in fact, it determines which destination you reach. You can’t get to Los Angeles by heading east on Highway 80 for example. And, in addition to choosing the right route, you have to choose an appropriate mode of transportation. You can’t get to Woodland by boat and you can’t get to Hawaii by car. And, of course, any time you are traveling to a particular place, you have a purpose in doing so. You don’t go to the dentist to buy groceries. In addition, it matters very much with whom you travel. Some people will be helpful and enjoyable to travel with, and others will not. Some will complain at every bump in the road and constantly suggest short cuts or supposedly-better routes, which isn’t helpful. And I’m sure some of you have experienced having your GPS system take you down a wrong road or triumphantly tell you, “You have arrived at your destination.” When you most definitely have not arrived at your destination.

But the most important aspect of our life’s journey by far is our relationship with our Creator and Lord. God created all things, he sustains all things and he will judge all things. He is sovereign over every traveler on every path. He knows every pothole, every wrong turn and, even better, he knows every smooth path and every right turn to take.

But we have a serious problem in our relationship with God. We are told in both the Old and New Testaments that all human beings have sinned against God. In Psalm 14:2-3 we are told that “The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” And, in the New Testament, the apostle Paul quotes these verses in Romans Chapter Three and then builds on that theme to make a compelling case that if we are left to our own devices, our situation is hopeless. We will be justly condemned in the final judgment.

Therefore, because of this universal sin, all men need a Savior. We need someone to take away our guilt and reconcile us to God. And the wonderful, amazing news is that God has provided a Savior; as Jesus himself tells us in John 3:16, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus is the only mediator between God and man, the only Redeemer, the only Savior. As Peter declared to the Jewish ruling council in Acts 4:12, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

Now, you can travel through this life rejecting God’s free offer of salvation, or you can acknowledge your guilt and accept God’s gracious offer in Jesus Christ. And if you accept God’s offer and declare Jesus Christ to be your personal Lord and Savior, you enter into a covenant relationship with God and then what God declared to his covenant people through Moses will apply to you. In Leviticus 26 Verses 3 & 12 we read that the Lord said, “If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, … I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.” And that is the heart of God’s covenant with his people: he is our God and we are his people. We love and obey him and he loves and takes care of us. He will walk with us as our covenant Lord as we travel on life’s journey. But notice the conditional nature of that statement; God said “If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands …”. We must be very careful and deliberate about our path through this life. And, as we learned in our retreat, a covenant commitment is the most serious commitment a person can make. You must do absolutely everything possible to keep that commitment.

Therefore, my title this morning is The Covenant Way. And I want to examine our journey on the covenant way by looking at five points: First, our ultimate destination; Second, our route to this destination; Third, the purpose of our journey; Fourth, our companions on the journey and Fifth, our mode of transportation. Along the way I will make application and will contrast this journey on the covenant way with the only other journey possible, which is the journey to eternal destruction.

Let’s begin by looking at the ultimate destination of our journey.

I.       Our Destination

Every human being who has ever lived, with the exceptions of Enoch, Elijah and those who are still alive when Christ returns, will die. We all know this of course, but none of us think we will die today, or tomorrow, or even this year for that matter. Our death is something that is far off in the indefinite and unknown future. It is almost unreal. But that future is not unknown to God and our ultimate death is very real. In Psalm 139:16 King David declared to God that “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” And that is true for all of us. There is a day ordained for us to die. A day that is known to God. And in Hebrews 7:27 we are told that “man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment”.

Every single human being alive, with the exceptions I noted before, will die. Our journey will come to an end. And the end is not that we cease to exist. No. We reach our destination. That’s what the journey is for; to reach our destination. This world is not our real, or eternal home. We are just strangers here, just passing through.

And there are only two possible destinations, although we don’t experience them in their final, eternal form immediately after death. At some point in the future, Jesus Christ will return again and there will be a final judgment of all mankind and we will all enter into our eternal state. We read about this final judgment in Revelation 20:12-15, where the apostle John wrote, “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

The lake of fire is, of course, figurative. But it represents a horrible eternal destination wherein all those who rejected God and his offer of salvation endure his just and terrifying wrath for all eternity. Most people today, including many professing Christians, deny the existence of hell. But that is wishful thinking. The reality is that God is absolutely holy and just and he must punish sin. It is the only proper response to rebellion against his perfect, beneficent rule as the Lord and King of all creation. And that terrible, eternal, destination is hell. And hell is where most people are going. But, praise God, there is an alternative!

The alternative to that terrible destination is represented in Revelation as the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, which is the bride of Christ, the true church. We are told in Revelation 21:3-4, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’” Isn’t that a wonderful picture? Eternal bliss in the very presence of our loving, faithful and sovereign God. And that destination is called heaven.

And Jesus Christ himself spoke about both heaven and hell. He told about the final judgment in Matthew 25:31-32, where we read, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”

The sheep in this parable represent those who have accepted God’s gracious offer of salvation. They have acknowledged their sin and guilt, they have repented and trusted in Jesus Christ alone for their salvation. They are called righteous even though they still have sin in them because they are united to Christ by faith and when God looks at them, he sees the perfect, unimpeachable righteousness of Christ. Christians are clothed in the righteousness of Christ, as we can deduce from Psalm 132:9, Isaiah 61:10, Romans 3:22 and Galatians 3:27. They are traveling on the covenant way.

On the other hand, the goats in this parable represent those who refuse to repent, who reject God’s offer of salvation. They have chosen to not take the covenant way. And in Verse 46 Jesus says that the goats, that is those who don’t repent, “will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous”, that is, those who do repent and believe, “to eternal life.”

And so, friends, your life’s journey has a destination. Whether you know it or not, you are on your way to one of two eternal homes. And nothing is more important in this life than to be sure that your destination is eternal heaven. And so I ask, “Where are you headed? What is your final destination?”

As Pastor Guedes noted during the retreat, it is important to be a covenant keeper because it is a matter of life and death; eternal life and eternal death! Therefore, it is important to look at the route you are taking, which is my second point; our route.

II.      Our Route

If you want to get to heaven, you need to be on the right path. Now, in this physical world, if you want to get somewhere you’ve never been before, you look at a map. Or perhaps you trust technology and ask Google. But however you do it, you inquire as to the proper way to get where you want to be. And so we should do the same thing with regard to our eternal destination. In John 14:1-4 Jesus told his disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Now I want you to notice something subtle, but very interesting, in Jesus’ statement. He did not say that they knew where he was going, he only said that they knew the way to the place. And the apostle Thomas was confused by this and said, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” That is, of course, a reasonable question for a physical destination in this world. You can’t know the way if you don’t know where it is you are going. But in Verse 6 we read that Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Jesus is the way to the Father. He is the way to the Holy City. He is the way to get to heaven. But, you may ask, “What does that mean? How can a person be the way to get somewhere?”

To answer that question we must remember that we are not talking about a physical destination in this world. Heaven is a very real place, but it is not part of this physical universe. We don’t travel to another planet or solar system to get to heaven. Therefore, the journey is not just a physical one, although we will ultimately be there in perfected physical bodies. Jesus is the way because he is our covenant Lord, the only mediator between us and God. We must be united to him by faith to get to heaven.

And in order to go to heaven we first need to be made ready for heaven. We are told in Hebrews 12:14 that “without holiness no one will see the Lord.” And in 2 Peter 3:13 that the new heaven and the new earth are “the home of righteousness.” And in Revelation 21:27 we read about the Holy City that “Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

Therefore, to get to heaven we must be made holy. We must be made righteous. We must have our impurity and shameful deeds taken away. And that is accomplished, in part, while we travel on this journey through life. We are being sanctified; made holy by God. And this will happen if, and only if, our names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. And we read in John 1:29 that John the Baptist said that Jesus Christ is, “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Jesus is the way to get to heaven. We must repent of our sins and trust that his sacrifice paid our debt. We must believe that God raised him from the dead. Then we will be united to him by faith. We will be what the apostle Paul frequently refers to as being “in Christ.” And we read in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” Therefore, as new creations in Christ, we will submit to him as Lord and walk in obedience to his commands. And we will be clothed in his righteousness and made fit for heaven. He will lead us on the right path.

Therefore, we see what Jesus meant when he said that he was the way to the Father. We get to the Father by being united to Christ and walking in the obedience of faith. There are, in one sense, as many paths to our heavenly Father as there are Christians. Our lives are all different in detail. But in another, more important sense, all true Christians are on the same path. We have the same covenant Lord and the same Holy Spirit guiding our steps. We have the same ultimate destination. This covenant way is called the way of holiness in Isaiah 35:8. And Jesus called it the narrow road in Matthew 7:14. In Proverbs it is called the good way, the way of peace, the way of wisdom, the way of life, the way of the Lord, and the way of righteousness. And so I ask, “Are you on this way? Are you walking in obedience to God’s commands?”

And one of the wonderful things about this covenant way, is that God guarantees we will reach our destination. We will have troubles along the way. There will be potholes, difficult hills, accidents to avoid, enemies who will try to knock us off the path and so on. It will not be the easiest way to travel. But God guarantees that we will succeed in reaching our goal, and the troubles we encounter along the way will all turn out to be for our good in the end. As Paul wrote in Romans 8:28, “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” That is a glorious promise of our covenant-keeping God to each of his children.

Just look at the life of Joseph for example. He was sold into slavery by his brothers. He ended up in a prison in Egypt. His life had some extremely difficult and trying times. But then he was lifted up to become second in command, the ruler of all Egypt. And after his family came to Egypt, he saw God’s hand clearly in all that happened. I’m certain he remembered the dreams God had given to him when he was young. And because he clearly saw God’s hand in all that had happened, when his brothers became concerned that he might hold a grudge and deal with them severely after the death of their father, we read in Genesis 50:20 that he said to them “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

Brothers and sisters, that is a tremendous guarantee, which should enable us to be victorious over any trouble that we encounter in life’s journey. God is watching out for us and he will not allow anyone or anything to prevent us from reaching our destination. He will use every trouble, including our own sins, and the sins of others, for our good.

Now, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be concerned about sin, you should be very concerned. First and foremost, it offends our heavenly Father. But, in addition, it will cause you to take wrong turns and go through unnecessary and sometimes serious difficulties. But God promises he will bring you through them and he will use them to purify and strengthen you. In Philippians 1:6 the apostle Paul wrote that he was, “confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

We see many examples in the Bible of this principle that God brings good out of all kinds of trouble. We’ve already seen in Genesis how God used Joseph’s troubles to save his family and many others. We could also look at the story of Balaam. The Moabites hired this seer to curse the Israelites. But God used even this total pagan to bless, rather than curse, his people. We read in Deuteronomy 23:5 that “the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you.”

You can also look at the entire book of Judges, which we are reading through now. We are told early, in Judges 3:4, that the enemies who remained in the land, “were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord’s commands, which he had given their forefathers through Moses.” Our troubles and trials are tests. God doesn’t test us to see how we will perform; he knows exactly what we will do. But he tests us for our benefit. The tests we fail show us our need and drive us to Christ for forgiveness, strength and direction. And the tests we pass strengthen our faith and encourage us on our way.

And the most amazing example of God working even through human sin is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. This event was, simultaneously, the most heinous sin ever committed by man and the greatest blessing ever given to man. Men were guilty of crucifying the Lord of Glory. But God used his sacrificial death to secure redemption for all those whom he wanted to save. We are told in Acts 4:28 that in crucifying Jesus Christ, the people “did what [God’s] power and will had decided beforehand should happen.” Paul explains in Romans 3:26 that Jesus’ sacrificial death allows God, “to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”

But what about those who do not have faith in Jesus, who are not on the covenant way? What does their route look like? The answer is, of course, that it often looks to us to be much the same in this life. Those who are not in covenant with God still experience troubles and trials but they may well experience great triumphs as well. They may be rich and famous and lead lives that we are sometimes tempted to envy as many psalms attest. For example, the psalmist declared in Psalm 73:3, “I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” But, ultimately, the journey of all who will not take the covenant way ends in disappointment and wrath. That is why the same psalmist goes on to say, in Verses 16 & 17, that “When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.” When he came into the house of God and saw reality clearly in the light of God’s revelation, he knew that their way would end in eternal destruction.

The way they are on is deceptive, the destination is not clearly displayed on the signs posted along the way. And our path can be deceptive as well. You can’t look at your current situation and conclude that because the road is smooth right now you are on the right path. Nor can you say that because the road may be rough you are on the wrong path. The destination is what matters. You must complete the entire journey! The covenant way must be followed all of life. We all sin and take side roads that we should not have taken, but we repent, get back on the right path and move on. It is how you finish the journey that matters!

Therefore, I counsel each and every one of you to take the only way to heaven. If you are on the wrong path now, you can change. God is calling you to choose the right path. In John 5:24 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” You can cross over from death to life; from the road to destruction to the way to heaven. Come to Jesus Christ in humble repentance. Surrender all to him, trust everything to him, and then travel with him as your covenant Lord all the way to eternal bliss. And that brings me to my third point, our purpose in life’s journey.

III.    Our Purpose

Many things have been written about the purpose of life. The great modern sage Mark Zuckerberg said that “Purpose is that sense that we are part of something bigger than ourselves. That we are needed. That we have something better ahead to work for. Purpose is what creates true happiness.”[1] To which I respond, Really? My purpose is equal to the sense I have that I am part of something bigger than me? Or that I know I am needed? Well, I know I am part of this world, which is certainly bigger than me. But that isn’t a purpose, is it? And I know that I am needed, in a sense. Certainly, the world could get along just fine without me, but my wife and others would have troubles. But, again, that is hardly a purpose. And what about saying I have something better ahead to work for? Is that just something better in this life? And how can I be sure of that? I might be told tomorrow that I have terminal cancer and will die in a month or two.

This statement is all empty nonsense, as is every other statement I’ve seen about the purpose of life if the speaker ignores God. The great philosopher who wrote Ecclesiastes summed it up best, in Chapter Two Verse Eleven we read that “when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.” Chasing the wind is about as futile or meaningless as anything I can imagine doing. But if there were no God, if the materialistic, atheistic worldview were correct and we were all just accidental collections of atoms following the laws of physics, then our lives would, in fact, be utterly meaningless. A hundred years from now it wouldn’t matter in the slightest what I decided to do today, or any other day. The only rational view if there were no God would be to say, “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you die.”

But the truth is, there is a God and what I chose to do matters eternally. And he created this universe for a purpose, which is the manifestation of his glory. He is the most amazing being one could ever imagine, and so there is no greater purpose for life than to make his glory manifest and to enjoy contemplating his being and his works and to have fellowship with him. And that is what we were made for. God tells us in Isaiah 43:5-7, “Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth—everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” And there is the answer to the question about man’s purpose. We were created for God’s glory. And therefore, we are commanded in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” But, you may ask, “How do I glorify God?” As always, we can look to Jesus for the answer to that question.

In John 17:4 Jesus prayed to Father, saying, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” And that is how we can glorify God as well. By completing the work he has given us to do. We are told in Ephesians 2:10 that “we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” We must do the work that God has prepared for us to do. But we must be in Christ to do that work. At one time a crowd of people asked Jesus, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” And we read in John 6:29 that he answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

That is the first and most important thing we must do. Jesus called it the one thing needful. And then, having given our lives to God, we must walk in the obedience of faith for the rest of life. And we must tell others about Christ and do all that we can to lead people to him and to build up the body of Christ. The last command Jesus gave to his disciples before he ascended into heaven is recorded in Matthew 28:19-20, where we read that he commanded us to, “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Brothers and sisters, we have a glorious purpose in this life. We are to glorify God by doing the work he has ordained for us to do. And then in eternity we will still have a glorious purpose, to enjoy fellowship with God and with one another and to do whatever work he has planned for us there. And so I ask, “What is your purpose in living?”

And notice the great encouragement that Jesus gave to us at the end of that command. He said, “surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”, which leads to my fourth point; our companions on the covenant way.

IV.     Our Companions

The most important companion by far is Jesus Christ. We are to be in Christ. He dwells in us by his Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit guides and empowers us every step of the way. He directs us in which path to take and he strengthens and encourages us along the way. And, as we have seen in Genesis 50:20 and Romans 8:28, our covenant Lord promises that even the troubles we experience in this life will all work together for our good in the end. God will see to it that we never have to shed a useless tear. Our troubles all have a glorious purpose. And while that does not stop troubles from being painful, it provides tremendous comfort as we go through them.

Our God is absolutely sovereign, which is great news to those who are on the covenant way. There is no force in all of creation that can thwart God’s plan in even the smallest detail. But that fact should be terrifying to those who are not on the covenant way, because there is no way to avoid standing before this sovereign God as judge. And he knows everything. Everything you have ever thought, said, or done. And he is against you. Your destination is also certain. You cannot avoid eternal destruction.

But getting back to those who are on the covenant way; God also gives us physical companions as we travel. We have our brothers and sisters in Christ. The family of God. And that is also a great comfort. We are to bear one-another’s burdens. We are to love one another as Christ loved the church. We have all been given gifts and resources, which are all to be used for the good of others, especially the family of God. In Galatians 6:10 the apostle Paul wrote, “as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

If you are on the covenant way, you have brothers and sisters who are in a covenant with God and with you. And God has given each one of us the exact gifts we need to help each other along the way. You will have all the help you need all along the way. And God also gives you grace, which is his power to overcome. In 2 Corinthians 9:8 Paul wrote that “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”

Therefore, you must view yourself as part of this covenant family on a journey together. It is a great blessing to be in this family, in covenant with one another, but it is also a great responsibility. As Rev. Broderick noted during the retreat, your problems are my problems and vice versa. Therefore, we must each work hard to develop and use all our gifts and resources for the good of others. Building up, encouraging, and expanding the body of Christ to the best of our abilities.

But if you are not on the covenant way, things are radically different. You also have travelling companions, but they have no covenant commitment to you and no Holy Spirit engendered power to help them be faithful. And God is against you, not for you. In the final analysis, it is every man for himself on the road to destruction. You really are alone in the ultimate sense and you will appear before the judgment seat of Christ alone. You will stand naked in front of the One who knows everything you have ever thought, said or done. You will stand before the very One against whom you have rebelled. That is a terrifying thought if you do not have a mediator, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to represent you. And so I ask, “Who are your travelling companions? Are you living as a faithful covenant-keeping member of God’s church?”

And now, let’s move on to my last point; our mode of transportation.

V.      Our Mode of Transportation

If we are on the covenant way, we have already seen that Jesus promised to be with us always. But it is far more than fellowship. We are in Christ. We have the indwelling Holy Spirit to give us power. He enables us to walk step by step until we reach our final goal. We do not travel alone. A true Christian is never alone.

When the apostle Paul wrote his final letter to encourage his son in the faith, Timothy, he said, in 2 Timothy 4:16-18, “At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

Brothers and sisters, if you are in Christ, you are invincible until you have completed the work God has ordained for you to do in this life. You are never truly alone and no one can stop you from completing that work because no one can successfully oppose the sovereign Lord of the universe!

There is no better mode of transportation imaginable. This mode absolutely guarantees that you reach your destination. Period. No exceptions, no qualifications, no doubts or caveats. There is no possibility of failure. If you are in Christ, you will be in heaven. The sovereign Lord of the universe guarantees it! And so I ask, “What is your mode of transportation? Are you traveling in your own strength? Or are you guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit?

In closing, I challenge each and every one of us to seriously consider the truth God has revealed to us in his word. We will die. We will be judged. There are only two possible outcomes: heaven or hell. Both are eternal and unchangeable. We read in Psalm 1:6 that “the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”

And there is only one way to heaven; it is Jesus Christ. He is the covenant way. He is the way and the truth and the life. Surrender to him. Acknowledge your guilt. Repent of your sins, forsake them. Trust in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. And walk in the obedience of faith, with your brothers and sisters in Christ, for the rest of life in covenant relationship with God and his family. This covenant way is guaranteed to lead you straight to heaven. God is faithful and cannot lie.

 

[1] https://www.inspiredlifehq.com/quotes-about-purpose/ (#34 on 6/13/23)