You may know the riddle of the two men at the fork in the road. You are walking along the road and you know that there is a fork, one way of which will lead you to Althringham the other to Seudhampton. You wish to reach Althringham. There is only one signpost but both pointers say Althringham, how do you know which way to go? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well you wait and hope that someone shall pass who will be able to help you. In due course a man comes along the road. You do not know where he comes from or where is he is going, but you do know that a man from Seudhampton will never the tell the truth, and a man from Althringham will always tell the truth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What question do you ask the man who comes along the road? If he is from neither of the towns you may not be any the wiser, but if he is, you may then know which way to go1<\/a><\/sup>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There is a similar riddle which involves a pair of speaking doors. There is an alternative ending to this to which Coco shall not allude but which you may wish to look up elsewhere. There are no labels on the doors but you know that one door leads to heaven and the other door leads to hell. The door to heaven always speaks the truth. The door to hell always lies. You are only permitted to ask one question of one of the doors, What question do you ask2<\/a><\/sup>? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Both of these riddles point us to a much bigger question. Would you want to spend your days in the place of lies and liars, or in the place where truth is known and valued? Do you want your destination to be in heaven or in hell?<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is one of the most important, perhaps the most important question for which you must have an answer. How can a man escape the pains of hell, and gain the bliss of heaven? <\/p>\n\n\n\n In this life we walk a rod which inevitably leads to a fork in the road. We may reach that fork before we die, but certainly when we die we shall be on one side of the fork or the other. How can we be sure that we are on the road to Althringham, to heaven and not on the road to Seudhampton, to hell? <\/p>\n\n\n\n On our way down the road we meet two men. We shall call them J and M. If you ask the question What is the way to heaven?<\/em> both of them will say Follow me<\/em>. How can we know which one tells the truth? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Do we think of the riddle of the two villages or do we think of the riddle of the two doors? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Both of them will help us to understand. M and J both teach that we should live a good, righteous and holy life. There are commands to keep. If we keep them then we shall live. But how shall we keep them? Both recognise that we fall short of the measure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n How then do we know that we have done enough. an old Welsh hymn takes up the the question: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Y g\u0175r wrth ffynnon Jacob<\/a> – A man by Jacob’s well. The hymn pictures the man with a pair of scales in his hand – A’r glorian yn ei law<\/strong>, and asks the question what will turn the scales? <\/p>\n\n\n\n We are at the fork and ask the question, what will turn the scales? If both J and M hold the scales what answer do they given when we ask Will my good works and obedience turn the scales?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n When we ask the doors: Does the other door lead to the same place as you?<\/em> We go through the door that replies No.<\/em> If it replies Yes<\/em> it lies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We ask M, and he replies: Yes, your good works, if there are sufficient, will turn the scales<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n We ask J, and he replies: No, your good works will not turn the scales but mine do.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Welsh hymn puts it: O! f’enaid, cais dduwioldeb a dry y glorian hon<\/strong>. My soul! plead [the blood], this will turn the scales. When King David wrote the fortieth psalm he spoke of the work of the one who would come: a body you have prepared for me. I have come to do your will, O God.<\/em>3<\/a><\/sup> The Lord Jesus Christ came to do his will. It is his perfect obedience to the law and to the Father’s will that earns a righteousness that he can give to us, and in the figurative sense turns the scales<\/em> for us. His good works count for us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is in fact the obedience he showed in his death on the Roman cross where he paid the price for our disobedience and sin that removes the condemnation from us; but we do not need just our sin to be removed we need also to be given a righteousness that cannot fade in order to stand before a holy God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And of the first riddle, what can we say? We may ask both J and M the question: Where do you live? <\/em>Jesus replies: I have come down from heaven<\/em>4<\/a><\/sup> in which are many rooms, I go [now] to prepare a place for you and shall return to take you there.<\/em>5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n What answer can M give? No matter how closely we follow the commands he has given, he understands our hearts: Their foot shall slip in due time<\/em>6<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Do not walk with those who cannot take you to heaven. Walk with him who is the way, the truth and the light7<\/a><\/sup>. He shall take you home8<\/a><\/sup>. <\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You may know the riddle of the two men at the fork in the road. You are walking along the road and you know that there is a fork, one way of which will lead you to Althringham the other to Seudhampton. You wish to reach Althringham. There is only one signpost but both pointers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"[{\"content\":\"Which road leads to your town?<\/sup><\/sub> <\/sup>\",\"id\":\"1a2eb192-45f3-4041-9e84-a4abbff25699\"},{\"content\":\"Does the other door lead to the same place as you do?<\/sub><\/sup>\",\"id\":\"f4e9c9fd-e91b-4091-b471-ee3f4307ad2a\"},{\"content\":\"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for me. In burnt offerings and\u00a0sacrifices<\/em>\u00a0for sin you had no pleasure. Then I said, \u2018Behold, I have come - in the volume of the book it is written of me - to do your will, O God.\u2019\u00a0Hebrews 10:5 after Psalm 40:6-8<\/sub><\/sup>\",\"id\":\"6786a33a-1988-40fa-aa73-224d153bc600\"},{\"content\":\"For I have come down from heaven,\u00a0not to do my own will,\u00a0but the will of him who sent me.\u00a0This is the will of the Father who sent me,\u00a0that of all he has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.\u00a0\u00a0And this is the will of him who sent me,\u00a0that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day. John 6:38-40 <\/sup> <\/sub> \",\"id\":\"2a420142-541e-40c8-ad2c-5326e24715e5\"},{\"content\":\"In my Father\u2019s house are many\u00a0mansions; if\u00a0it were<\/em>\u00a0not\u00a0so,<\/em>\u00a0I would have told you.\u00a0I go to prepare a place for you.\u00a0And if I go and prepare a place for you,\u00a0I will come again and receive you to myself; that\u00a0where I am,\u00a0there<\/em>\u00a0you may be also.\u00a0And where I go you know, and the way you know.\u201d John 14:2-4<\/sub><\/sup>\",\"id\":\"1214486e-bca2-4071-b589-04b0f1e5de10\"},{\"content\":\"Vengeance is mine, and recompense; their foot shall slip in\u00a0due<\/em>\u00a0time; For the day of their calamity\u00a0is<\/em>\u00a0at hand, and the things to come hasten upon them Deuteronomy 32:35<\/sup><\/sub>\",\"id\":\"c7270961-9e68-4c4c-9bad-8e3eb028147e\"},{\"content\":\"Jesus said to him,\u00a0\u201cI am\u00a0the way,\u00a0the truth, and\u00a0the life.\u00a0No one comes to the Father\u00a0except through me. John 14:6<\/sub><\/sup>\",\"id\":\"547e28c1-341e-425e-9389-ae3650f6239b\"},{\"content\":\"And Jesus said to him,\u00a0\u201cAssuredly, I say to you, today you will be with me in\u00a0Paradise.\u201d Luke 23:43<\/sup><\/sub>\",\"id\":\"05581424-152c-42f1-bc62-e416a22593a4\"}]"},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.purechocolate.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.purechocolate.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.purechocolate.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.purechocolate.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.purechocolate.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3528"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blog.purechocolate.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3536,"href":"https:\/\/blog.purechocolate.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3528\/revisions\/3536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.purechocolate.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.purechocolate.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.purechocolate.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}