All of us are humans and we all live in this world. The days of our lives on this earth, day by day, year by year, it passes. Our lives are the number of days in our lives, which makes up our whole life. In this road of our lives, we come and go, we live and die. This coming and going is all life, where you come from and where you go. For this road of life, we need to think about it so that we are able to understand God’s salvation and the reason why we live in this world. In the Bible often talks about this way of life. For example, Jesus says to walk the path of salvation and not the path of destruction. Won’t some people ask, “Aren’t there 2 paths in this world? One that leads to salvation and one that leads to destruction?”

But all of us have this one road of life. How do we walk this road of life? When we’re born, we don’t know how to walk. When we slowly grow up, we learn to walk. We walk and fall, and maybe we need to hang on to something and sometimes we need someone to hold us. As we grow older, we start to study and we have this road of education. From kindergarten all the way to university to get your doctorate (and you might even go overseas to study). You also learn a lot from this road of life. After you graduate you need to find a job. Then you have this path of work because it follows your interest. Whether you’re an engineer or someone good in science, or you’re someone in the medical industry, everyone’s road is different.

After finding a job, some will be able to find a partner to establish a family. When you walk in this path of marriage, you choose a person you life and you feel that this is God’s arrangement. After you establish your family you need to take care of them. In a family, there are sweet and bitter times. Although every family has their difficulties, there is also a lot of joy in the family.

As we keep walking forward in this road of life, have you walked correctly? Some when they grow old will think back to the questions of life and they will begin to pursue religion. Although, some may be brought to this road of faith by parents and they inherit their faith from the previous generation. Some in their road of life may not have a religion or may believe in everything (religion) but once they grow old, they think about the questions of life and start to make preparations for the future.

Is it really the end of life when you die, or is there another road we must take? All these things require considerations. There’s a man named Nicodemus who came to Jesus in the night. He was a Pharisee and his status may be inconvenient so he could only find Jesus at night. He saw that Jesus came from God, and He performed many miracles and cast out many demons. Jesus also had many precious teachings about life. So Nicodemus thought about these things, “I’m already old, how should I walk this road of life?”

God knows the hearts of men and in John 2 records that God knows the hearts of all men.

When Nicodemus came to look for Jesus, he got to know Jesus from miracles. But Jesus didn’t talk about miracles but the truth of salvation. Men must be born of water and spirit then he can enter the kingdom of God. Today when we live on this earth we all belong to a country but in our life on this earth, we don’t just live on this earth. Although you can migrate to another country, that’s not your eternal home because life will end one day. Our hope is in God. So Jesus says that He is the way, truth and life and only through Him then can people go to the Father. So one day we will all go back to heaven and this road is through Jesus because He is the saviour of all men.

When you’re young you may not think about this but once you come of age or illness, you will think about where you’ll go in the future. Our physical life has a beginning and an end. So we need to know how we should walk this way of life.

When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, Nicodemus believed in the Lord Jesus. In the gospel of John Nicodemus was mentioned 3 times, including when Jesus died for our sins. Nicodemus also prepared ointments for Jesus’ burial. Nicodemus didn’t just believe in Jesus but he also loved Jesus and he understood the sufferings Jesus had to go through for his salvation.

This road of life, you come and go. There are life and death. But for those with no faith (religion), they think everything ends when you die. But we must understand that when we all walk on this road of life, there’s no dead end. We read in Proverbs 14:12,

‘There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.

16:25;

‘There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.’

Proverbs talked about a way twice. A way that seems right to men but in the end is the way of death. In the Bible in Psalm 1 says that we shouldn’t walk this path of evil and sin in life but the way of the righteous. In Psalm 23:2-3;

2 ‘He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.’

If someone walks along the path of God, this person is walking on the right path. This way is not the way deemed righteous to men but it’s the way God is leading. Some people walk on the path they think is right but they’ve walked the wrong way. Sometimes they’re even lost. In Psalm 119:176;

‘I have gone astray like a lost sheep; Seek Your servant, For I do not forget Your commandments.’

Jesus is our good shepherd and He will bring us to the right path. We have to follow the path Jesus is walking and not others. You may respect this person very much, but he is still a man. He’s someone you love and respect but you have to consider if this person is walking the right way. If he’s gone astray or lost, we need to turn back to walk the right path. It’s not the way seems right to men because what seems right to you may not be right in God’s way. This is what we need to think about.

In this road of life, you have to walk God’s way. We cannot go astray or lost.

There are about 100 mountains in Taiwan, higher than 3000m. Some hikers in Taiwan think, “in my whole life, I must climb all these mountains.” They’ll read the maps of the mountains and they call themselves mountaineers. They have a lot of experience, they are mountain climbers and are very familiar with the route - where to take a break, where can be passed or where shouldn’t be. But there are those who meet with mishappenings because they walk the wrong path. We need a guide.

There was a year the speaker went climbing mountains and church members and one of the brothers was a mountain guide. This brother brought them to climb this mountain which required 3 days to climb. The height was 3950m. There was also a brother who climbed this mountain multiple times and the speaker asked him, “Is this mountain good to climb?” He replied, “It’s not easy but you need patience. Climb slowly, and you’ll reach the peak.”

So they climbed, rested a night, and climbed again. They walked 7 to 8 hours and spent another night. That was the second day. The brother told him, “Today we need to sleep early because tomorrow we’ll climb up to see the sunrise and we can sing How Great Thou Art at the peak. You can stay up there and sing hymns to praise God.”

They woke up at 3 am and began climbing at 3:30 am. It was still dark, so they used a headlight. As they were about to reach the peak, there was no more path. The highest path is not reached through a path but by rocks. There are some guides hammered by the side, and you have to hold on to the chains and step on the rocks. There’s a platform at the top but not everyone can fit into it. Just take a picture, then you come down.

They walked for 3 days. You need both endurance and physical strength but you can’t get lose your way. The speaker asked the brother, “How many have gotten lost and died?” He said, In his experience, “200+ have gotten lost and died. They think that they know how to climb mountains but they don’t realise they end up dying.”

In our lives, we need Jesus to guide us. The way Jesus leads us is the way of salvation and is eternal. Today when we live on this earth, some don’t know God. We think that what this person says is correct but we have to understand that we need to believe in Jesus.

Once the speaker went to a church and saw this person who has prayed in church for a long time. He hasn’t seen this person before and asked him where he came from. The person replied, “I recently believed Jesus and I just came to the TJC. in the past I was a vegetarian and believed in a master.” This man told the speaker, “I’m old and I was in the park one day exercising. There was someone beside me also exercising. When I exercise I’m quite quiet, but this person beside me was saying “Hallelujah” “praise the Lord” while exercising.” He knew this person was a Christian, otherwise, why would he say these words? This person asked, “You’re a Christian?” She replied, “yes”. This person asked, “if you praise your Lord, where is He?” She replied, “our God is in heaven. Every day I praise Him and I pray. Although I’m old in age, I pray to ask God for peace. Every day I’m happy.”

This person then asked, “o, will my depression get better?” The Sister told him, “come to church, pray and listen to the sermons. Your depression will get better.” This person who was once a vegetarian came and miraculously, he recovered. Every morning this person comes to church to pray. This church also has evening prayer service form 4-5pm, and in the morning from 6:30am-:30am. He also attended the morning prayer. The speaker saw that this person was very joyful.

In this road of life, we have to rely on the Lord and walk in God’s path. What seems right to men, we don’t know if it’ll lead to salvation or death. If we look at Genesis, when God created heaven, earth and human, He put men in the garden to enjoy all the grace of God. But when men left God, men started to walk in the wrong direction and when men walked the wrong way they begin to sin.

In Noah’s time, people walked further and further away and people breached heaven. So God chose the household of Noah. What path did they take? They walked the path with God. There’s no way we can go wrong with that (walking the path with God). The rest of the world was walking this way of sin. There’s only 8 in his (Noah) household. In an election, 8 people mean 8 votes and there’s no way they can win. They chose the way of God and was saved. After Noah, we see that God chose Abraham. After Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, then Joseph.

Genesis is very miraculous, although there are only 50 chapters, in Genesis 1:1 it starts from the beginning;

‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ‘

In the beginning. This is literally the beginning of the heavens and earth and the beginning of salvation. Then, Genesis ends with Egypt. Why did they end with Egypt? This world is Egypt and the coffin represented the end of human life. But is the end death? So after Genesis is Exodus and in Exodus God promises the land of Canaan.

Egypt is this house of slavery and a place with suffering and oppression. When God led Moses to lead the people to enter Canaan, it’s also a path. When you look at Abraham in Genesis, after Noah talks about Abram, there were 4 generations of people and these four people were specifically mentioned by the Bible. In their lives, different things happened.

As for Abraham, God chose him and he is the father of faith. He walked this path of faith. He left Ur of the Chaldeans, a place full of idols. He walked the path of way. Abraham’s Son is Isaac.

As for Isaac, he was given a smooth role in his life because he feared God. He believed God will lead him in all his ways. After was Jacob.

As for Jacob, although he was a man of strong character and sought to seize everything, he also suffered. In his sufferings was God’s grace. God didn’t leave him. The road God gave him was grace.

As for Joseph, he was one of the twelve tribes but he suffered much. However, he became a prime minister. God gave him a road of blessing. Genesis ends with Joseph in the coffin and Egypt. This is the road of life.

Let’s look at these people. There are 4 different things about them. First is Abraham and his altar. He built his altar of faith. Next is Isaac. He dug wells and no matter where he dug there was water. Everything was smooth for him. Next is Jacob, God gave him a road of grace. In his path of life, he made paths to God to bear witness of God’s grace. God didn’t leave him. In Joseph’s life, people called him a dreamer. Joseph’s dream came to pass because God gave him these dreams and he was able to see the future and they came true. God was with him. When he was the prime minister, he looked back and although there were many sufferings in his path, God’s will was good. Other than dreaming dreams, his garment also told us about his life because of the way his clothes changed. It’s something amazing.

Look at Abraham: how did he walk this world? Look at Genesis 12:7-9,

7 ‘Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord , who had appeared to him.
8 And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord .
9 So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.’

13:3-4,

3 ‘And he went on his journey from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,
4 to the place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram called on the name of the Lord .’

18;

‘Then Abram moved his tent, and went and dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the Lord .’

Abraham was one who built many altars in his life. This tells us that in your way of life you need to build up your faith, lead a life of prayer where you cultivate yourselves spiritually and you need to communicate with God.

Today in church or at home, you need a spiritual altar. For your whole house to be blessed as recorded in Psalm 128, your household has to fear the Lord. Acts 10 talks about Cornelius. He was one who feared God, prayed often and did charitable work. This person feared God and loved men. Abraham was similar. Today no matter where you go, you have to build an altar.

People say that there are 3 types of people in China. The first is the kind who dare to do all kinds of business the second are those from Guangzhou who dare to eat everything. The third is the Fuxin who dare to go everywhere. Even to South Africa where robberies are common, they dare to go. Abraham left his own home without knowing where to go but wherever he went he built an altar. Today our members who migrate overseas have to learn from Abraham. The first thing to do is to build an altar. Life changes quickly, whether it is economic, political or nature’s changes, you have to draw near to God.

What matters is if Jesus is with us. Wherever you move to, no matter how prosperous that place is if you don’t know how to draw near to God your life will still be empty. If you move to a place so deserted and ulu, but Jesus is with you, you’ll be blessed. Abraham was like this, building altars. How did Isaac go about his life? We turn to Genesis 24:21,

‘And the man, wondering at her, remained silent so as to know whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not.’

40,

‘But he said to me, ‘The Lord , before whom I walk, will send His angel with you and prosper your way; and you shall take a wife for my son from my family and from my father’s house. ‘

42,

‘“And this day I came to the well and said, ‘O Lord God of my master Abraham, if You will now prosper the way in which I go, ‘

56,

‘And he said to them, “Do not hinder me, since the Lord has prospered my way; send me away so that I may go to my master.”’

Here records of Isaac. God gave Isaac a smooth road and here talks about a prosperous way. How do you walk this prosperous way? Read v27;

‘And he said, “Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s brethren.” ‘

God was leading him all the way. V48;

‘And I bowed my head and worshiped the Lord , and blessed the Lord God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the way of truth to take the daughter of my master’s brother for his son. ‘

God leads us in the way of truth. Why does this whole chapter talk about the prosperous way? Read Genesis 24:12;

‘Then he said, “O Lord God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham. ‘

“Please give me success this day”. Ecclesiastes tells us that time and chance happens to all. Things will work out if God gives a chance. Although men have experience and are hardworking, if God doesn’t give a chance, it cannot work out. V12; It means we have to pray to ask from God grace whether in career, marriage, business or faith. We have to ask for grace from God. Some prepare to baptise but have no chance but there are some who are old when they got to know Jesus and everyone is happy in his household. This is because God has blessed him. Some cannot find a partner and their parents are anxious so they ask God to give them an opportunity.

There was a sister in her 30s and her parents were very anxious. They asked the preacher to help. He asked, “What were your conditions?” She said, “Someone in the faith with good faith”, someone near her house and not so far away. After talking to the preacher for a while, someone said that a brother was also looking for a partner and perhaps they’re suitable.

Once they got to know each other, they got married. They moved to Vancouver in the end. The Lord cared for her. The speaker met this believer and even though she lives further away now, she still comes back to find her parents. Recently her parents rested in the Lord.

We can understand that everyone has a different road, but God will lead us. The way that God led Isaac was very smooth. In Genesis 26:25;

‘So he built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord , and he pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.’

Here mention 3 things - first, he built an altar, that’s faith. Then he pitched his tent, that is family. Third, he dug his well, that is his career. God gave him everything including the well. The gentiles saw that God was with him in v28;

‘But they said, “We have certainly seen that the Lord is with you. So we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, between you and us; and let us make a covenant with you, ‘
We who fear the Lord, God will be with us and He will let your road be smooth and everything you do will be successful.

As for Jacob, he had a lot of thoughts but he also suffered a lot. He prayed continuously to God to be with him, and so he set up a pillar to pray to God. Jacob’s road was a road of grace, God didn’t leave him, either in his marriage or in meeting his B\brother. He thought that his brother would take his revenge but God didn’t allow them to hurt each other and allowed them to resolve their issue. Jacob was able to experience grace.

As for Joseph, he saw his brothers when he was young and was sold to Egypt. His Father gave him a robe of many colours and his brothers smeared blood on his garments and deceived his father that Joseph was eaten by the beasts. Jacob was truly grieved but circumstances changed. When Joseph was sold to Egypt and became a slave, he put on the garments of a slave. He was maligned, imprisoned and wore garments of a prisoner. Then he interpreted the dreams, became prime minister and wore garments of linens. When he met his brothers and father, he wept. What he realised was that God was taking care of them and God didn’t abandon the family. Although in this foreign land of Egypt in this time of famine, the family was able to be reunited. What did Joseph say in the end? In Genesis 50:19-21;

19 ‘Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God?
20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.
21 Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.’

Looking back, he was full of thanksgiving. “Although I suffered many, this road God given to me was good.”

Just like Job, God turned Job away from his suffering. This is the way of life. You have to walk this path of God. Genesis ends with a coffin and Egypt. But Joseph has a hope that he will come out of Egypt. Although his body returns to dust, there is a promise. This is similar to Abraham, who a belief in a better place as heaven.

Believing in Jesus is a greater blessing. Jesus is our greatest strength. When we believe in Jesus, we have joy and peace. May the Lord guide us.