For many years a man had trodden the old road—the way which "seemeth right unto a man.”
Strong drink had ensnared and was now ruining him. It robbed his purse. It robbed his prospects. And it threatened to rob him of his soul.
He was, as to his age, in the prime of life; but as to his condition he was in the bondage of corruption. Moreover, he was content to be there, for, as yet, he was un-awakened to a sense of the peril in which he stood.
A strange means was to be used to arouse him.
On going to attend a funeral, he was walking along a country road, when his attention was attracted by a notice board.
Inscribed upon it he saw the words, "Don't use the old road. It is dangerous. Keep to the new one.”
The sentences only referred to the branching roads before him. They had nothing to say to spiritual matters. But "all things serve His might." The message on this board made him think. It made him look ahead. Was not he traveling on the old road of sin? It had been in his eyes, but what was it in the sight of God? And what was to be its end?
"The end thereof are the ways of death.”
The death of another had brought him to the district. His own death was not far off-nearer perhaps than he thought. And beyond that dread event, which would fix his destiny, lay eternity. Eternity, with all its bliss for the saved, but with all its woe for the ungodly.
He was using the old road. It was "dangerous" indeed. It would mean destruction in the end.
As yet it was not too late. He might be saved. The new road was open. He might tread it. Christ Himself is the way of salvation and of peace. God gave Him to be the path of blessing and of happiness for men, and He calls all to tread that way today.
There and then the folly of the past became plain to his view. He was missing the gladness which God had provided for him. The paths of pleasantness and peace he had never trodden. Instead thereof he had been on the hard way of the transgressor.
Why should he pursue it further?
The result of that simple statement on the board was that he was converted. He turned to God from all the idols he had hitherto served. He fled to the Savior of sinners who was waiting to welcome the wanderer. He received from His hands forgiveness, full and free, without money and without price. And today he keeps to the new road and rejoices as he treads it—while ever nearing are the glorious courts of everlasting blessedness.
Which road are you treading? O, friend, be warned in time.
"Don't use the old road. It is dangerous. Keep to the new one.”