I just don't have much time,
so I thought I'd look briefly at a verse that we've seen sometimes
before, and I've spoken of it in brief, but one
of the glorious things about judging righteous judgment and
knowing the Lord is that we find rest and rest for our souls. One of the evidences that the
Lord has done a work in the hearts of his people is that his people
are enabled by God's grace to rest. The world says, do, do,
do, and God says, done, and God encourages people to rest. One
of my, not my favorite verse, but one of the verses I love
in the Old Testament is in Jeremiah chapter six, and you can turn
there with me. Jeremiah six is written in the context of appalling
apostasy, and Jeremiah and the events of the Lord Jesus in Jerusalem
are remarkably paralleled. because those events we read
in John chapter 7 and the rejection of those people, within 30 years,
40 years, that city was going to be completely and utterly
destroyed, as it was in Jeremiah's day, and for the same reason. So history repeats. And so it's a dark time in Israel's
history. The judgment of God is falling.
The darkness has descended upon nation Israel and they have in
their pride and their arrogance rejected the word of God. And
Jeremiah stood as one man in that city with his faithful scribe
and no record of other people there supporting him. God had
taken his people away, Daniel and Ezekiel and all the others.
And just to bring you some idea of the arrogance of them, Jeremiah
wrote the words of God in Jeremiah chapter 36. And the king sat
in his winter house, says Jeremiah 36, 22. The king sat in his winter
house and there was a fire in the hearth burning before him.
And it came to pass when Jehudi had read three or four leaves,
he cut it with a pen knife. So there's the word of God written
by Jeremiah and Jehudi cuts it off and he throws it into the
fire. That word for penknife is the
word for scribe's knife, and it's exactly what happens and
exactly what the scribes of this day are doing. They were not
afraid. They didn't rend their garments. And what was God's response?
Jeremiah, just go back and write it again, because these are words
of God. But in verse 16 of chapter 6
of Jeremiah is a glorious description of the rest for God's people.
In the midst of all of this chaos and catastrophe, where religious
people like the religious people today were preaching peace, peace
to each other, and they had their slogans. In verse 4 of chapter
7, before you get there, it says, Trust ye not in lying words,
saying, and this was one of their slogans, the temple of the Lord,
the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. There they were,
just like the Jews in the days of the Lord Jesus in the destruction
of Jerusalem. They thought that being close
to the temple That physical building was the safest place on earth
and God was in the business of destroying it and he took his
glory away and his presence away. Religious people have not changed. But in the midst of all of the
darkness, there are some jewels. And this is what he says in verse
16, in the midst of all of this abomination and all of their
wickedness, he says, thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways
and see and ask for the old paths, where is the good way? and walk
therein, and you shall find rest for your souls." And what was
the response of the people? But they said, we will not walk
therein. And then verse 17, also I've
sent watchmen over you saying, hearken to the sound of the trumpet,
hearken to the sound of the gospel. But they said, we will not hearken. The Lord's judgments are always
just, but here in verse 16 we have a little duel in the midst
of the darkness. Our God commands and commends
his people to seek rest for your souls. And there is just one
place of rest, and it's a person. And this is a glorious description
of God's people in the presence of this person. And what do we
do? He has just some very simple
instructions. He says, stand, see, and ask. Ask for the old paths,
ask for the good way and walk therein. Stand, see, ask and
walk and you will find rest for your souls. So let's just look
at these instructions from our God in the midst of all of that
darkness. And the darkness of those days is so equivalent to
the darkness of these days. If you want to read what's happening
in the religious world today, you go back and read Jeremiah
and Ezekiel and you will find that you don't need to change
a single word and you have an exact description of what's happening
in the religion of today, so-called professing Christianity. So the
first command of God for us, isn't it? Stand. Stop your doings. Stand. Stand. Take time to contemplate,
to wait and reflect. Religion is just incredibly busy,
isn't it? And when people get disturbed
by the truth, what do they do? They go and do more doing. As
Romans 10 says of the Jews, they were going about to establish
their own righteousness, which is exactly what we're all doing
all the time until the Lord arrests us. He says, stand. You stand
in the ways as if you're standing on a hill and there are just
many roads and they're all broad and they're all well-trafficked
roads and they're all roads that are saying, peace, peace. They're
wide and they're broad and they're roads without any obstacle. There
is a way that seemeth right to a man, but the ends thereof,
the ends thereof, are the ways of death. You stand in the midst
of all of that, you stand, and God gives us simple instructions,
and you see, you stand and you see, You are to look and observe
what's going on. This is a command from God. We
are to see. And how do we see? As we saw
earlier in our previous hour, we see through His light. We only ever see with any clarity
through the lens of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
there is no word from God without the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Where the Lord Jesus Christ is not honoured and glorified
and raised up for who he is and what he's done, then there is
no word from God. These men had the word of God.
declaring, as they were in Jesus' day, that they saw themselves
as the choice ones. They saw themselves, in Ezekiel's
description, as the meat in the pot. We are the ones that are
particularly preserved by God because here we are at the temple
and God has cast off the likes of Daniel and Ezekiel and Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego. We're here. We're here in the
temple. We are to see the circumstances
of life in the light of his light. We see, walk in the light that
God has given you. and he'll give you more light.
There's only one place to see, and that's him. He is the light
of the world. And then you ask. You stand,
and you see, and you ask. And to ask implies that you have
a need. Only the needy ask. All the self-righteous
religious people are telling you things all the time, but
God's people are mercy beggars. They're asking, aren't they?
I'm asking. I'm standing, and I'm seeing
all these ways around me. And I'm asking, asking, asking,
and God says, I will be inquired of for these things from the
house of Israel. He will. He says, ask, ask, seek,
and you shall find. Ask. We read those lovely words
in Proverbs chapter four this morning, didn't we, at the beginning
of our service, and they're glorious words, aren't they? But the path of the just is as
a shining light that shineth more and more until the perfect
day. The way of the wicked is as darkness,
and they know not at what they stumble. We ask, we ask, we ask. Who do we ask? There's only one
person to ask, and that is God, and there's only one place he
answers, and that is in his word. We ask him, we ask, and he tells
us what to ask for. He says to ask for the old paths. So there were ways when you stood
as it were on that mountaintop and you saw that there were broadways
and they're in every possible direction and they're well trafficked. These paths are paths that are
just trodden with feet. Lonely paths. The old paths. That word old means eternal. If you're going to ask, you have
to stand, you have to see, and if you ask, and you ask God,
you ask for the old path, you ask for the eternal path, that
which has eternity in its origin. You ask for a path that has a
beginning before the foundation of the world, and you look to
a path that has its end. in eternity future. We talk about
eternity beginning and eternity ending because we have no idea
of eternity at all. It is all one to our God who
lives outside of time. But you ask for the old paths.
You ask for these eternal paths, you ask for the paths of His
eternal covenant. The secret of the Lord is with
them, with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.
The covenant's an eternal covenant. The covenant's a covenant into
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ who was slain before the foundation
of the world. This covenant is revealed by
God alone. That's why we wait, we stand. and we see and we ask because
He alone, He alone can teach. That's why I love that verse
in John chapter 6, isn't it? They'll all be taught of God.
God must teach us this eternal path. They'll all be taught of
God. And every man, therefore, that
has been heard, that hath heard, been taught of God, and hath
learned of the Father, though they do one thing, they come
to Him. They come to this path. It's called a good path. It's
an eternal path. I love the description of the
Lord Jesus Christ in Micah 5. It says, whose goings forth,
whose origins have been from of old. It's the same word that
Jeremiah used. You go back and find. Find what
happened in eternity. It's eternal and it's called
by It's good. God alone judges what
is good and what is right and what is righteous. He alone judges
with righteous judgment. It's eternal and good. It's an
eternal covenant in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
a reflection of God in all of his true character, in his name.
It's a reflection of God in his purpose. It's a reflection of
God in his union with his bride. It is that old path. David lay on his pillow dying
and he said, God has made with me an everlasting covenant. I
look at my house, my personal house, the house of my family,
the house of my nation, and I have no reason for any confidence
in anything that I have done or achieved. I can't boast in
that I've been the writer and the sweet psalmist of Israel.
I can't boast in all of my triumphs on the battlefield. I can't boast
in all the things I've done. I rest entirely upon Him. He has made with me an eternal
covenant. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
covenant, brothers and sisters. He is the covenant. Read about
it in Isaiah 46 and 42. He is the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. God says this is an eternal covenant. God says this is an old path. God says this is a good path. God says that all of the beams,
all of that shining light of eternal election and grace and
predestination, eternal love, eternal justification, they radiate
from this old way. You ask for this old way. It's
where we see the glories of the cross and we only ever understand
the glories of the cross in light of the eternal covenant of God.
It's the only place we understand the beauties of His holiness
is at the cross. It's the only place we understand
the comfort of His union is at the cross. It's the only place
we ever find and understand the wonders of our being accepted
in the Beloved, in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
All the blessings of God's people are blood-bought blessings. That's
why Ephesians says he is our rest. And he says, you stand
and you see and you ask for this eternal way and you walk therein. You walk therein. How do you
walk therein? See, walking speaks of a habit
of life, isn't it? It's a life lived by faith, isn't
it? Lord, lead me to the rock that
is higher than I. Lord, I believe, help thou mine
unbelief. And here is the glorious promise. I like the thought of my soul
being In this world, we will have troubles. In this world,
we will have doubts and fears. In this flesh, which never believes,
we'll always be questioning whether it's all true. Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. But
this is a promise from God. You'll find rest for your souls. Doesn't mean rest for your bodies.
It says rest for your souls. Rest for your souls in him. Rest for your souls in the sacrifice. Rest for your souls in the rock.
Rest for your souls in the word of God. I love what Ruth did. A glorious picture of Ruth. The kinsman redeemer. said to
her, he said, the Lord recompense thy work. You know the story
of Ruth, how she'd been drawn by a sovereign hand of God into
the arms of the Lord Jesus Christ, pictured in the Kinsman Redeemer.
He said, the Lord recompense thy work and a full reward be
given thee of the Lord God of Israel under whose wings thou
art come to trust. Under his wings, where are his
wings seen? On the mercy seat, those angels
overshadowing the mercy seat, looking upon the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ, looking upon that broken law and the blood
that satisfies the justice of God. This is where the rest of
God's people is, isn't it? We lean on him, we rest in his
promises, we rest in his eternal covenant. We rest in the fact
that he knows us. Peter was caused on that night
and beyond, I think, to doubt very much whether he is still
a child of God. And the Lord had made a great
promise to him, is your faith won't fail, Peter. Because the
faith that Peter had wasn't a faith that was generated by Peter,
it was a faith that came from God and it was Peter's possession.
But the faith's object is the issue all the time, isn't it?
And he says, do you love me? and it must have cut him to the
heart. Do you love me? You'd shown that night when I
looked at you that you had more love for yourself than me, and
the Lord looked at him, and he knew him, and he loved him, and
he asked him again, and then he turned, Peter says, and his
confidence is not in anything he's done. He found rest from
his souls. He said, Lord, you thou knowest.
You know that I love you. You know. It's in the knowledge
of God and what he's done that sins have been put away, that
righteousness is imputed to us and righteousness is imparted
to us. We are robed in his righteousness.
We are justified. We are accepted in the beloved.
We are loved everlastingly. Are we going to be any more holy
in heaven than we are now, brothers and sisters? Are we going to be any more loved
in heaven? Are we going to be any more accepted
in heaven than we are now? What's our acceptance? What's
our standing before God? It's Him. It's the Lord Jesus
Christ and He doesn't change. He's seated and we're seated
together with Him, loved everlastingly, loved eternally. He will rest
in His love. He rests in His love. He will joy over thee with singing. Stand, see, ask about the old
paths, and there's a promise you'll find rest for your soul. Return unto thy rest, O my soul,
for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. us who are in the Lord Jesus
Christ doesn't look like bounty so much the time that the Lord
has he's made a promise to rest for our souls Simon would you
like to pray