Jesus Christ

The world today is filled with natural wonders that are appealing. It's also filled with other wonders that aren't so natural, that are very alluring. We know that the Grand Canyon, various gorges, various national parks, rivers, waterfalls are beautiful to look at, but just by the contrast in the landscape, those are dangerous places where people die every year. If you look at this picture of a canyon, for instance, you can see how inspiring it is, and yet at the same time, how dangerous it can be. It's important to know the difference between what is appealing and intriguing that is good for you, and what is also appealing that is bad. Ephesians 2, verse 1, tells us that we were made alive from doing bad things, bad choices that had bad consequences. We were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world. There are dangerous things. He goes on and talks about various lusts of the flesh, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the mind, the mentalities that humans have, the things that we get into that allure us, that attract us. We say, wow, I'd like to go into that environment. It looks exciting, only to find out that it's a very dangerous and harmful environment overall. Things that remove us from danger include bridges. In this photograph, we can see a lot of danger, but we can see safety, a bridge right in the middle that would convey us across a very dangerous precipice from one to another. Here we see a waterfall in Oregon, where a lot of rain falls, a lot of slippery surfaces. In contrast, here's another bridge across a very sheer canyon on both sides. Now, the bridge may not look so attractive. The canyon may be very appealing, very alluring. Ooh, I'd like to go down there. Maybe jump down there, climb down there. I'd like to cross it. People are attracted to certain things, but it's important for us to know what is good and what is bad and to make a choice from that. In verse 4, God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, raised us up. He's brought us above the sinful life. He's brought us above the way of human nature. He's raised us above and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

We are doing things that humanity is not. We are looking up in directions and seeking things and mentalities and destinations that are far above what we normally would do as humans.

There's another bridge. It's a little-known bridge. It's the greatest bridge in the world. It is the most expensive bridge ever constructed. That bridge is Jesus Christ. That bridge is our bridge, your bridge, and my bridge to the kingdom of God.

And it's provided by God through Jesus Christ for us. What about that bridge? Here's a picture of a unique bridge that we could use to symbolize that.

It's a bridge that would convey us from one place to somewhere else you really can't get to. But it's not something that was easily built. It's not something that was cheap. It's not something even that is natural.

Today I'd like to talk about this bridge, Jesus Christ, the bridge to the kingdom of God. We're going to examine this bridge to the kingdom that our Father is offering us through His Son.

And see, how do we feel about bridges today? And how do we feel about the bridge to God's kingdom that is being made available to us?

As I mentioned, life is full of all kinds of alluring, natural and unnatural wonders. There are some things in life that you can go out and do, and oh, they're so exciting that people die doing them.

I'm not just talking about rafting down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.

But there are people and places and things and opportunities that become available to you and me as humans that we can choose to get involved in. If we're not careful, these things can be dangerous to us. And yet, very exciting to think about.

And people can encourage us to go the way of this world. And it's got to be thrilling.

Most things in this world are harmful. Very harmful.

This photograph shows some beautiful water. Refreshing water. It would be fun to jump in the water, swim around.

The fact that this water is right above the Niagara Falls may not appear a problem to some people who are concentrating on water.

I'd like to use some photos today as an analogy of society.

Of what we've read in the Bible, Ephesians 2, and how we once walked, we once floated along the course of the world.

According to the water course, the water course just kind of flowed along. And got involved in the excitement, and the lures, and the things, and the business of life.

John says in 1 John 2, 16, that most things in this world actually are harmful.

1 John 2, 16, For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, it's not of the Father, but it's of the cosmos, it's of the society. And the world is dying along with the lust of it. It's passing away. You know, a bridge is sole purpose. The sole purpose of a bridge is to help people avoid huge problems. I don't know that a bridge has ever been built except to convey people over very difficult problems.

For instance, here's a picture of a highway in Canada called the Trans-Canada Highway. And look at all the problems that this bridge crosses. You have one rocky, steep slope on one side with a highway, and one rocky, steep slope on the other side with a highway. And down through the middle is a very raging, white water river.

And the bridge effortlessly, in a level path, transports traffic, once it's finished, it will, transport traffic right through all of that problem.

Imagine if the traffic had to somehow come down the hill, clumber, lumber, lumber down the hill, and splash through the water and get pushed and shoved down the river, and maybe try to somehow get out the other side and go back up.

Bridges span big trouble, and they typically rise above dangerous terrain, steep inclines, rocky, sometimes water-laden gorges. Here's a photo, for instance, of a stream, a little picturesque stream up in Oregon, cascading down one of the mountains in the Cascade Range. Now, as idyllic as this scene is, just imagine crossing that creek.

You notice the sides are very steep. It rains a lot in the Cascade Range, in Oregon and Washington, and so there's moss covering those rocks. There's algae on those rocks. The rocks have been rolling around for a while, and they're rounded off, and so they're unstable. And so trying to get down one slope and somehow get across the water and up the other side would be a big enough challenge. It's another time when you might get hypothermia when your feet and clothing gets wet in the process. Or you slip and fall, break an ankle or an arm and can't climb up the other side.

Life is full of trips and falls in society and going along the way that seems right to a man. There are fatigues and loads and burdens, slow progress. There are lakes, there are water dangers, there's slipping, there's drowning, there's run-off. There's a possibility of getting stuck and broken down. There's always the possibility of flash floods that will carry you away. The analogy is like life without godlessness or without godliness. Life without Jesus Christ, outside the body of Jesus Christ, in the godly way.

My wife and I have taken many trips with teens through the years. One such group on a bus, we got all the way from the middle of America out to Bishop, California. And one of our young teen girls just stepped right off the bus and twisted her ankle big time.

Right there. And the trip changed. Instead of it being a trip off to see California and Death Valley and Yosemite, all of a sudden it was a trip of caring for a teenage girl who was in screaming and pain, who couldn't walk, who we were trying to find ice for, find a way to wrap or strap or x-ray. Now the whole focus is on this girl and how we're going to take care of this girl. And for the rest of the trip, it was who's going to carry the girl and the hikes that we planned, the overnight backpack that we planned, all canceled, all off, because we have to take care of this girl.

When I was young, my family went from Pasadena up to Yosemite for a trek out into one of the most beautiful places on Earth. And upon arriving somewhere in the Tuolumne Meadows area, my mother stepped into a little creek, smaller, flatter, more shallow than the one in the picture, and slipped and fell and broke her wrist. And the rest of the time was trying to find a hospital or on any hospitals there, getting out, getting a cast on, the pain my mother was having, asking anybody today about our trip to Yosemite, and they'll tell you all about my mother's broken wrist.

We don't remember much else about that trip. We remember getting to the creek and the wrist being broken, and the rest is all about the wrist. Our family visited Venice, Italy for the feast a few years ago, and we arrived at Venice, and we got into our hotel rooms, and my wife and I came out of the hotel room to go see Venice, and right outside our room, the first step in the staircase going down, she stepped and broke her ankle.

The rest of the time was finding ice in Italy? No, that's not going to happen. Would that be one cube or two? Transporting, pain, trying to find drugs, Bob Carlyle making a cast out of tape? Hey, there's one for you. Me going through the streets and waterways to the destination we were going to, and talking an Italian who didn't speak English out of his chair, so that I could carry it back to my wife, Bob, and I could carry her back to where we were going to get on a gondola to leave.

And the man was very glad to be reunited with his chair, which he didn't understand why I was taking the first time. But you ask us about our trip to Venice, and you'll hear everything about an ankle, and nothing about the sights. It reminds me of a place we come to in Kenya. There's a stream on the way to the church at Gakachola, and the stream sometimes will rise when the rainfall hits. And we come to this place where you have to cross, and the story is always told.

Never not told, always told. If somebody else doesn't tell it, I'll tell it. I wasn't even there, but I know it so well. I'll tell it. When David Baker, Mr. David Baker, the senior pastor before me, came there with Martin, his driver, the road was covered in water flowing across, and they could have been swept over the small cliff.

There's a little waterfall cliff that goes off there. And so, to be sure that the car could make it, Mr. Baker rolled up his trousers and walked ahead of the car, and much followed him across, and they made it safely. Now, the story is always told, but what I've never heard was why he was going, what he spoke on, who he counseled, who he baptized.

It's always about the trials, you see. Always about dealing with problems. And so it is. In the world, and I'm saying in human society, somebody's life story is always about the trials. It's about the divorces, the breakups, the smashed relationships, the issues, the tragedies, the drunkenness, the jail terms, the recovery, the drugs. That is the story. That is what preoccupies people. It's not about the happiness of life. There in Oregon are larger streams with more water. But when you put a bridge across, it takes all those issues away. And people who use the bridge usually come back with photographs and stories about the beauty, how green, how rich it is, how exciting the trail is.

The focus, then, is on things that are smooth, things that are secure, things that are speedy, things that are above trouble.

Here's a bridge. My wife and I have been on this bridge. And I have to tell you, it's not the most beautiful bridge in the world. It's not the largest bridge in the world. It's just a bridge. And when you get there, you say, hmm, that's just a bridge. And as you cross the bridge, you say, well, it's a bridge. It's a smooth bridge. It's a sturdy bridge. It's a bridge. And, you know, there's not a whole lot sometimes to talk about, about the great day you went on the bridge. You know, because the bridge, you didn't get blown off the bridge. You didn't fall and break anything. You don't have any lifelong stories about getting carried off by floods or, you know, the day you couldn't get out of the canyon or something. It's just a day at the bridge.

You're above trouble. You're unimpeded. It's kind of like being in God's church, like being on the bridge to the kingdom of God. I'm not saying it's not eventful. I'm not saying it's not wonderful. I'm not saying the view's not great. But what I'm saying is, you don't have the penalties of relationships. You don't pay the big prices in life that you would if you were off this bridge wherever it might be crossing. And it's a beautiful thing. It's a wonderful thing. You're above trouble. You're unimpeded. You stay clean. Sometimes it can seem common. You might not appreciate that bridge. It might be unexciting. In fact, some people on the bridge, you know, say, I don't like it up here on this bridge. I think I'll jump off. It seems like there's always people jumping off of bridges for some reason. They don't like it on the bridge. They'd rather jump off to their own peril or their own thrill or their own whatever it may be for their own reasons. But others notice people on the bridge, to the kingdom of God, and they think, you know, that's pretty special. Compared to my life, that's pretty special. That's like a beacon of light. That is so different. So different.

Meanwhile, danger can lurk below. I'd like you to take one last look at this bridge before we go. You'll notice in the foreground there's a tower, the first section of the bridge. And way in the background, ahead of those people, there's another tower. It's a two-tower bridge. You'll notice the cables go from one tower to another. Here's another view of this bridge.

Same bridge. That's the bridge at Royal Gorge, Colorado. You see, to the people on the bridge, life can be fairly constant, fairly calm. They can move forward. They can progress. But for those not on the bridge, look at the challenges, look at the problems, look at the agony, look at what it would take to try to get down there, cross a river that's flowing through the bottom, a muddy, roaring river, and then maybe try to get up the other side. Bridges are good. There's danger below. And in society, off this bridge, the kingdom, there's a lot of danger. There's a lot of things that may look, whoa, look at the view, look how tremendous it looks. Wow, I'd like to be down there, maybe, swimming. May I jump off the bridge and go for a swim or something, you know? Sometimes we get crazy ideas. But not up here, not up top. Out of view, we find, as it says back in Ephesians 2, verse 6, and He's raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We're doing something productive. Our eyes are not on the physical. It's not in the cares and the lusts that are harmful to us. But our focus remains on our goal, on our objective. And we are free to begin towards our goal and free to pursue that goal on the straight and the narrow course. Unimpeded, unrestricted, as much as we want to go. And it's an enjoyable thing. You can puzzle and look over the edge. You can compare. You can be thankful and appreciative of the life that God has called us to, to take us out of the canyon and put us up where we can begin a journey on the bridge to God's kingdom. And I've contemplated this topic for 14 years. And it began with a bridge, kind of like this one. It's almost non-existent in Ohio, about 12 miles north of Cincinnati on the way to Columbus on Interstate 71. And you cross a bridge, double divided highway, a couple of bridges side by side. And you're zipping along the speed limit, 70 miles an hour. You're off to Columbus and you're going down this concrete highway. And the concrete highway just stays concrete highway. And you're on a bridge, but you don't really know a lot about it, because there's a little concrete barrier in the middle and you've got things over on the side. Not a big deal. And clunk, you're off the bridge and off you go. You know, if you view it from a different viewpoint, it's a little different. It looks like that. And often thought, traveling that highway, from the stream down at the bottom of the valley, and those steep, rocky walls that rise, and the forest and everything, what would it be like if the traffic had to cross down there? What would it be like, long lines of traffic as the daring trucks and the daring maybe four-wheel drives, you know, I can do this, went off the side, collapsing and sliding and tumbling down to the bottom. And maybe people would cut down trees and make some rafts, you know, and maybe set up a business of getting people across until the rains came and the flash floods and washed them away, and others are struggling and trying to find ways, and trying to get up the other side. What would that do to the flow of traffic? I mean, it sounds silly, doesn't it?

It would shatter the progress of the travelers, wouldn't it? It would just stop. The contrast is, you sit down here and look up there, all you hear is, people not even cognizant of the fact that they're on a bridge or what they're crossing below.

Think of this scene quite often, and how serene it must be down below, how difficult it is, and how everybody's going by effortlessly up top, unaware of the dangers that lurk down below. Christ is like a bridge. Christ provides us, the Father provides us Jesus Christ as a bridge, and He carries God's children over their troubles if they'll follow Him.

He carries us, lifts us above the troubles of society, above the troubles of our human nature, and carries us to the Kingdom of God. But it's up to us to make a choice. Bridge or gorge? That's really the choice. Bridge or gorge? Bridge, kind of smooth and flat. Gorge, kind of pretty, you know? Kind of alluring. It's a Kodak moment.

In Deuteronomy 28, I would love to read all of this chapter with you today. I hope that you will read it all, but let's just look at a few verses of this chapter that has some 68 verses in it.

Verse 1, Now it shall come to pass if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, if you stay on the bridge, if you're interested in the bridge, and you follow Jesus Christ on the journey across the bridge, to carefully observe all of His commandments, which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. You're going to be on a different plane. You're going to be doing something productive.

And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you because you obey the voice of the Lord your God. And He talks about all the blessings that are going to get dumped on you. You're just going to have great relationships. Now during this sermon, don't think about the parts of your body that ache.

He's not promising us great health. He's promising us great relationships, smooth sailing in relationships with God and marriage in our two covenants that we have. Those who are God and godly, and those we have made a marriage covenant relationship with, those are our two covenants in life that we've made.

And if we obey God, those relationships are going to flourish. They're going to be beautiful. They will be smooth, pain free. That's the promise. Now and forever. If we drop down to verse 15, But it shall come to pass if you do not obey the voice of the Lord, to carefully observe all His commandments and all the statutes which I command you today, and you decide that you'd rather go in the gorge, you want to hang out down there with all the snakes and the spiders and the flash floods and the slippery rocks and things falling, trees falling on you and stuff.

Well, then all these curses will come upon you and overtake you. And He goes through all the curses, lots of them. Lots and lots and lots. This is aimed at physical Israel and spiritual Israel, the ancient tribes of Israel, as well as the modern church of God.

And as far as the ancient tribes go and the modern church goes, in verse 46, And they shall be upon you for a sign and a wonder, and on your descendants forever. You keep His commandments and His laws. However, because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness, therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you. And we look forward to this in end-time prophecy, that the enemies are going to come against the house of Jacob. And they're going to put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you. The Lord will be a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand, a nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the elderly, nor show favor to the young.

Oh, you're going to play around the creek till a flash flood comes roaring down there with its bundle of lumber and sticks churning in front, and it's going to sweep you away. So it is that in verse 64, the Lord will scatter you among the people from one end of the earth to the other. And in verse 65, Among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place.

But there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul. Life in the gorge is not good. Not now, not ever. It's never been. So what is it about the bridge that people don't seem to want? You know, the more involved you are with God and godliness, the stronger the bridge will be that you have to the kingdom of God. And conversely, the weaker the... Well, let's just look.

We're going backward, aren't we? Okay. You look at a strong bridge, and if you have a strong relationship with God, you can expect to go in a very safe and solid manner towards the kingdom of God. But on the other hand, if you're less involved with God, you have a weaker bridge. Maybe just starting constructing a bridge.

You're going to be a little in the valley and a little out, aren't you? Kind of like this bridge. Here's a bridge. Well, I got a bridge. I'm in the church. Okay, well, let's head for the kingdom. Okay, well, we can sort of... Well, we're going to have to get down off of this first pile a little bit and slip and fall around. But we got more bridge ahead. We're doing okay. We'll get up here on top of the next one, and well, it looks like we're going to have to jump for that last one.

Do a little swimming there. But you see the point? Bridges are very complex structures. Here are some photos of bridges. Here's one in Cincinnati, Ohio, crossing the Ohio River, going into Kentucky. And just look at the complexity of all these steel girders and beams. This bridge is built in a way to lift the road surface, to actually lift it up so that it will lift the loads that are on it, carry them across.

There are arches, there are spans. There are stresses that will be on that bridge. There are footings along the river. Here's a bridge in Maastar, Bosnia. You can see that this bridge has solid footings because that river gets flash-floods, and they come racing down there. And yet the people will be safe on that bridge. Bridges are complex. Frozen rivers affect footings, undermine bridges. Water that comes through affects bridges.

Vibrations on the bridge affects them. Earthquakes, wind, oxidation of the materials affects them. They're very complex things. Here's another complex bridge in London. It's called the Tower Bridge. Some of the purposes of it are obvious from the photograph. The same with the bridge to the kingdom of God. It's a very complex bridge.

If we go back and look at Jesus Christ, the law, the old covenant, the new covenant, it's very detailed. You have the law, you have the statutes, the judgments, you have the precepts, you have a complex tabernacle system, very complex priest order, sacrifices. In Hebrews 9 and verse 6, we read a little glimpse about this complex bridge that God built for us. Hebrews 9 and verse 6, Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priest also went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services.

But into the second part, the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people's sins, committed in ignorance. This bridge to the kingdom was well thought out. It was well organized. There was a lot to it. The Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. It was symbolic for the present time. There's a lot of symbolism, type and anti-type, a lot of shadows that foreshadowed actual events to come later.

Both the gifts and the sacrifice are offered, which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience. That would require repentance and the Holy Spirit. God, to come into a person, works to be performed. I know bridges not only are complex, but they are very costly. Once upon a time, there was this city, and people wanted to get to the other side, and they couldn't very well.

That's a big ocean, a finger of the ocean that comes in, and the tides race in, and then the tides race out, and it's windy and it's foggy a lot of the time. So there was a need to be able to safely cross that area. Just like with you and me, we have a need to get to the Kingdom of God. That need existed and God recognized it. And so just like these people, construction began of a bridge. And just as the way you and I get to the Kingdom of God, a way, a path, a bridge to the Kingdom began to be constructed.

And it was detailed. It also was very expensive, just like this. As this bridge began to work its way across the San Francisco Bay, you can see the great amount of effort that was required at a time when the Great Depression had started in this country in the early 1930s.

A massive amount of labor went into it that we often don't tend to think about today as we zip across that particular bridge from Silicon Valley to the north, down to the San Francisco downtown area at the south. It was a bridge that took a lot of work, a lot of money, a lot of time.

It also was expensive in another way. It cost 11 human lives to build that bridge. It should have cost 30. But 19 men fell into safety nets that J.R. Roebling and his company erected knowing that people would fall because people always died during bridge construction. And so 19 men were saved by nets that were slung into areas that they were working on.

But there was finally a solution, and the solution is called the Golden Gate Bridge. It conveys people to where they need to go with safety, whether it's windy, whether it's rainy, whether it's foggy. It doesn't really matter. They can safely reach their destination. Here's a bridge in Edinburgh, Scotland. It's an interesting bridge that has three spans. 78 men died building this bridge in the 1800s. 78 people. Very complex bridge. Very expensive bridge for the time, and a very costly bridge in human life.

Here in Hebrews 9, continuing in verse 11, But Christ came as high priest of the good things to come, With a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, And not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood.

He entered the most holy place once for all, having attained eternal redemption. A very complex system that now is costly and requires the Creator. The life of the Creator required his blood. In verse 26, he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And it's appointed to men once to die, but after this the judgment. And so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for him, he will appear a second time apart from sin for salvation. He will convey them. That bridge will work. If we talk about Jesus Christ as our bridge to the kingdom, the bridge has three spans, much like this bridge in Edinburgh, Scotland has three spans, three sections.

The first section is truth. It's understanding. Understanding God. It's the Logos. It's the Word of God. It's what Jesus Christ is and the Word that he gave us. It's understanding who God is, what God is, and the way that godly people live.

The second span of the bridge is the way of God, the way of life, the way which is repentant godliness. That is Jesus Christ saying, follow me and us responding to him, following him. And the third span of the bridge is life, salvation. It's what enables us to reach the other shore, as it were, to reach the spirit realm and live forever with God. I'd like to talk first about the span of truth.

The Logos, the span of truth. What is the Word? What is the truth? It's agape love. It is love God with all your heart, soul, and might. Love your neighbor as yourself. Here's the underside of the Humber Bridge in Yorkshire, England. This is a massive structure that conveys one across a very wide river. And the Humber Bridge is awesome. It's the real deal, folks. It's true. And as you leave one shore, and you think of the first stretch, the first span being truth, this bridge, I think, represents it pretty well. In 1 John 2, verse 24, notice what the Apostle John tells us.

1 John 2, verse 24, Therefore, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. Truth. Thy Word is truth. Jesus Christ is truth. And that Word which you heard from the beginning, from Genesis, from the Law. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us, eternal life. So you begin with the truth, and your goal is eternal life. And Jesus Christ becomes the bridge to the kingdom for us. In 1 Samuel 12, verse 20, we notice what the high priest Samuel says.

Samuel says to the people, Do not fear, you have done all this wickedness. And I say to you, and God says to you, Don't fear, you have done all this wickedness in your life. You've been down here off the bridge. You've been down in the gorge. Don't fear. Don't fear. We've already been told that if we repent, God will forgive us.

Don't yet do not turn aside from following the Lord. You go on the bridge. You follow the way. You go with Jesus Christ. Do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And do not turn aside. Don't go off. Don't be lured into something else. For then you would go after empty things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing.

In verse 23, Moreover, as for me, far be it for me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you, but I will teach you the good and right way. This is the truth of God, the true and the right way. Only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart.

Verse 25, But if you still do wickedly, if you prefer that, you shall be swept away. That's our choices.

In John 4, verse 23, Jesus Christ said, The hour is coming, and now is when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.

That's the only way we can worship God. That's the only way we can begin our journey with Jesus Christ, the bridge to the kingdom. It is in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such to worship Him. John 4, 24, God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth. Jesus said, Your word is truth.

There is another span on the bridge, and that's the span of the way. The way.

Christianity, which is being Christ-like, and being with Jesus Christ, is a way.

It's not a concept. It's not a philosophy. It's not something to know. It's something to do. Here, for instance, is a bridge over some dark water.

This bridge is not a technicality. It's not a bridge because you accept that it's a bridge, or you believe that it's a bridge. It's a bridge because it's a bridge.

It spans trouble below. It conveys you safely across troubled waters. How troubled are these waters? These waters almost immediately flow over Niagara Falls. These are very dangerous waters. And that bridge isn't just there to be a bridge. That bridge is there to convey trainloads of engines and cars and freight safely across that river.

Here is the on-ramp to the Humber Bridge in Yorkshire. You notice this bridge isn't just a static bridge. It's a bridge to transport something. It's a bridge for motion. It's illegal to park your car where this photograph is. You notice they drive on the left here. You can't just park your car and leave for a month. No, you have to keep moving. It's a destination. It's a way. It's not a technicality.

It's not an acceptance. It's not a belief. Rather, it's a contrast of paths. One that's below and one that is above. In Hosea 14 and verse 9, it says, Who is wise? Let him understand these things. Who is prudent? Let him know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, and the righteous walk in them. So the way of God isn't a belief. It's not a technicality. It's something you travel in and through. We walk in them. But transgressors stumble in them. As babes, we start on the way.

We head up. We get on the bridge. John 4, verse 6, Jesus said, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the light. Those are the three spans of the bridge. He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life. He is our bridge to the kingdom. He says, No one comes to the Father except through me. Notice the traveling, the motion.

No one's coming to the Father except through me. I am the bridge to that kingdom. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know Him and have seen Him. Because that's the way God is. That's the way God the Father moves. Jesus Christ moves the same. His children move the same. We're on the same path.

Verse 10, Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I speak to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does the works. In verse 12, most assuredly I say to you that He who believes in me, the works that I do, He will do also. And greater works than these will He do. It's not about believing in Jesus. It's about doing the work. It's about going in the way. It's about going through life. About pursuing godliness on our journey. In verse 13, Whatever you ask in my name, associated with this journey, associated with the process of salvation, then He said that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

If you ask anything in my name, I will do it, concerning your repentance, your growth, your travel to the kingdom of God. You ask anything with that regard, and I'll do it. Now, if you want to ask other things, you're kind of on your own. Like in Matthew 6, He devotes quite a little bit of that. Don't be asking like the Gentiles do for a bunch of physical stuff.

He says, you don't do that, but you seek first the kingdom, and those other things will get added to you. There's quite a lot of discussion in the Bible about what we should be seeking. But when it comes to traveling this way, you ask anything. Guaranteed God will do it. In John 10, verse 27, He says, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And they follow Me.

This bridge isn't about discovery. This bridge isn't about building your own bridge to the kingdom. It's not about having the brilliance and the, you know, let's go out and sort of be a discoverer like Columbus. Oh, I found the bridge to the kingdom! I found it myself! And it's logical. No. Godliness will never be logical. And many will seek, but few will find it. And the only ones that will find it are those that are called to it. And their eyes are opened to it. Jesus said, My sheep hear My voice, and they follow Me.

My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. Once we're on this process, there will be no snatching. No one will be snatched. They can willfully leave. They can willfully be deceived. They can willfully desire to be in the canyon or in the river, but no one gets snatched off the bridge.

The bridge is safe. The bridge is safe. You know, saints are identified by the way in which we live. Not by any other source. It's the way in which we live. By the fruits of the way you live, you will know them, Jesus said. Here's a couple of photos. Driving on the Humber Bridge. On the first section, the second section. You're going, you're traveling, you're moving. There's another view from down below as you move across that bridge.

You know, the saints were even called the name, the way, initially. Because it's what they were. It's what they did. They were living a way of life. You'll find in Acts 9 that Saul, who was Paul, went out after the people of the way, trying to kill them. Later on, you see in Acts 24, verse 14, that according to the way which other people call a sect, they were calling us a sect back then. But it was a way, a way of life. We then come to the third span, the span of life. The span of life.

Eternal life. This is the Humber Bridge in Yorkshire, in an English fog. Of ourselves, we don't always see where to go or know where to go. We don't understand always what happens to us. Things come at us and things confuse us, and as humans, we don't always know where to go. That's why David said, even in the valley of the shadow of death, What am I doing here and why am I here? I will fear no evil because you are with me and your rod and your staff, they comfort me. I'm following you and you're going to lead me.

In Psalm 16, verse 11, David said, You will show me the path of life. It's hidden. Humans can't figure out how to get into the kingdom of God. Humans devise all manners and ideas of even what that is. Oftentimes, it's going off to some ethereal place when you die to do some man-made, made-up things and concepts and ideas, and how you get there and what you do is based on some man-made criteria that are invented by humans. But God knows it's His kingdom. And if we continue with Jesus Christ on the path, He will ultimately transport us through whatever it is to an unseen place in a different dimension.

He continues in Psalm 16, 11, In your presence in the kingdom of God is fullness of joy. Ever since I've been a young person, I've longed for the joy that is in the literal presence of God. You know, the fruits of the Spirit is love and joy. There's a lot of joy with God and where God is. And it says here, At your right hand are pleasures forevermore, eternal pleasures. You talk about fun down in the canyon.

Well, that's fun with a lot of headache and heartache. But pleasures exist in joy at the right hand of God. That's our destination. Who get there? Psalm 15 talks about who will dwell in your holy hill, people of godly character. Revelation 21, 7, He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be my Son. That's who's going to be there.

In John 27, once again, where Jesus said, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, He says in verse 28, And I give them eternal life. See, you go from one span of the bridge to another. You have the knowledge, you have the wisdom that comes through baptism, through the Holy Spirit. Then you walk the way, and those who follow Him, He says, I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. You're not going to get snatched off the bridge to eternal life. There's other ways of going off the bridge. You can be one who wants off the bridge, but you can't get snatched off the bridge.

Here's a scene of a very dangerous situation at Niagara Falls. Imagine all the dangers that are down there, but you don't have to worry. See that railing in the front? No one's going to snatch you off. If you like it, if you want to be godly, if you want to continue the kingdom, Jesus said, Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand.

You're safe with God on the bridge to the kingdom, unless you want to climb over the railing. Christ said he's even going to be our bridge during the turbulent times at the end of this age. He said, in Revelation 3, I will also keep you from the hour of trial, which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth. Why? Remember, the trial is not on the bridge, is it? The trial is in the gorge. It's in the world. Jesus Christ is coming to fight against the sinners, not the saints.

And he said, I will keep you from that hour of trial. You'll probably see it. You'll probably have a very good view of it, especially if you're in Petra, of all places, where the rocks surround all sides, except the view west, towards Jerusalem. It sort of seems to run out there from all I've been able to see from the photos. It might be a real good view of some of the in-time events. I'm not saying we're going to Petra, but, hey, you never know, right? I'd like to give you a little warning about bridges.

There are some false bridges. Here's a photo of a bridge. It's called Natural Bridge or Rainbow Bridge, whatever name you want to put on it. This one's up by Lake Powell. Natural bridges are defined so by technicality, not by function. Example. A natural bridge is a bridge if it spans something. Does it span something? Yes, it does. Therefore, it's a bridge. Technically, that's a bridge. What is a bridge to do? What function does this bridge serve? Does it help somebody? Does it protect somebody? Actually, you could probably have a good argument about which is less dangerous. Going over the bridge or going under the bridge.

It is also a dead bridge. It goes nowhere. So there are some things that may be appealing and seem like bridges by technicality. Here's one. Isn't that a beautiful bridge? Just stir your little heart a little bit there. A recent example in the news of a false bridge. A famous religious leader wrote, Protestants are not true Christians, and their churches therefore do not have the means of salvation. Listen to that. Their churches do not have the means of salvation. Technicality. Notice the definition here. The true church is based solely on definition, on a technicality.

Protestant groups cannot be called churches in the proper sense because, unlike the Catholic Church, they do not have a postolic succession. Technicality. They do not have a postolic succession, which is the ability to trace their bishops back to Christ's original apostles. One group claims to be able to do that, and the other group doesn't.

Therefore, it cannot convey people the means of salvation because they don't have a postolic succession, as quoted in USA Today. Interesting, there's no need of following Jesus Christ. No need to be like Christ, keep His commandments, do God's will, or in fact do anything. Just a matter of a technicality of a postolic succession, or the whim thereof. And so, we have to be careful in wondering and determining what actually is a true bridge. Coming is a bridge for all of humanity.

A bridge for everybody. Today, the world is blind. It says in 1 John 5, verse 19, We know that we are of God. Those who are in the process of going on the bridge to the kingdom know that we are of God. Because of the truth, because of the way and the fruits of the way, and because of the life that God has put in us through His Holy Spirit.

And we also know, He says, that the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we may know Him who is true.

And we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. We the saints in the future will become part of the bridge. Now we're traveling over a bridge to the kingdom. Ultimately, we will become part of the bridge with Jesus Christ for many other people to come to the kingdom on. We will assist Jesus Christ in bringing many sons to glory. Jeremiah 6, verse 16 says, To the people in that day, stand in the ways and see, says the Lord, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it, and then you will find rest for yourselves.

But they said, we won't walk in it. Well, there is certain calamity coming in verse 19. Hero earth, behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people, the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not heated my words, nor my law, but rejected it. That's the direction the world is going now, even though God is saying, follow my ways. But it won't always be that way.

Once we assist Jesus Christ in putting down Satan and reigning on earth, we read in Isaiah 35 and verse 8, A highway shall be there. Hey, now, here's some forward motion. Here's a way. It's a high way. It's safe. You can make progress on this one. And a road. And it shall be called the highway of holiness. Notice it's not the parking lot of holiness. It's the highway of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it. But it shall be there for others. Whoever walks on the road shall not go astray. Verse 9, no lion, no danger, no obstacle shall be there.

You're going to make progress on this road. Verse, at the end there, it says, The redeemed shall walk there. Just like you and I are redeemed now, people will be redeemed then, including the remnant of the house of Israel that's brought back. Verse 10, And the ransom to the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads, and they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

We can be part of that. Part of that process. Part of that bridge. In conclusion, here's another bridge. This bridge not only is safe, but it's covered. Not only does it keep you from the trouble below, it keeps you from the trouble above. It keeps you from snow and wind and rain. But warning, bridges are smooth. Bridges are flat. Bridges are routine. They're effective. They're efficient. Some people might consider them to be boring. But natural wonders are around us that are visually exciting.

They're alluring. They're filled with potential, curiosity, with action. We could jump off and swim down there. Of course, that water might be 30 degrees and 6 inches deep right now. When you hit, you could break a leg and arm.

You could hit your head on a rock. You could be a paraplegic, a quadriplegic. You could be busted up and broken up and wondering how you're going to get to a hospital. You could be going through hypothermia and nearly freeze to death. But nevertheless, it does look intriguing. In Proverbs 5, I'd like to read you the first five verses. Proverbs 5 talks about a woman, just as Revelation talks about a woman, a religious system that this world has bought into, a mindset, as it were, that is alluring.

And it looks really good, that you and I have tasted of in our lifetime. This is Proverbs 5. In verse 1, as opposed to Psalms, My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Lend your ear to my understanding, that you may preserve discretion, and your lips may keep knowledge. For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, physically and religiously. Oh, what's in this society looks good to human nature. The things that are out there that we could dive into, the opportunities that come along to smash a contract that we've made with God are many.

To smash a contract that we've made with a spouse are many. And in both counts, he's saying here, what lies off the bridge can look very appealing. And her mouth is smoother than oil. Oh, and the movies and the entertainment and the way the friends and everybody talks about it.

It's so action-filled. You know, I did this and broke up with that person and smashed that, and I've got this tattoo. I don't know where it came from, and this scratchy thing that I got from somebody. And I broke the car and smashed that and went to prison. And I've got five DWIs, and are we going to have a party tonight? I had a lot of fun at the last one. I don't remember what happened, though. And so on and so forth. It's so much fun. But in the end is bitter as wormwood. You know, the piled-up broken relationships and the broken body and the whole thing.

In the end, it's as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death. Her steps lay hold of the grave. Lest you ponder the path of life, those ways are unstable.

Here's a picture that kind of sums it up for us. Society's like that, and the bridge to God's kingdom is like that. There's the bridge, and there's society. It's pretty exciting being on the bridge. It's very exciting being on the bridge. If you have the mind of God, if you really want to pursue the kingdom, that's where the joy is, that's where the excitement is, that's where the future is, that's where the progress is. And someday we'll be able to help people get out of what's below the bridge. Let's endeavor, brethren, to remain on the bridge, just as the waters of this bridge are about to go over Niagara Falls. They're in New York. Let's remain on the bridge of the way, the truth, and the life that Jesus Christ offers you and me. Let's continue our crossing to our eternal destination in God's kingdom, and be thankful for Jesus Christ, who is our bridge.