I please God to bless us together
this morning as we consider his word. Let us turn to the prophecy
of Jeremiah chapter 10 and we'll read verse 2. The prophecy of
Jeremiah chapter 10 and reading verse 2. Thus saith the Lord,
learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs
of heaven for the heathen are dismayed at them Jeremiah was commanded of God
to prophesy to Israel in the day in which he lived and he
was a very honest and a very faithful and a very truthful
prophet. And he spoke the words of God,
that God gave him to speak to the people. And what was the
general effect upon the people? Well, very sadly, for the most
part, they ignored the word of God. They had time in the years ahead
to regret that they had ignored the Word of God. I'm sure most
of us know that Israel went down, particularly Judah, into Babylon,
into captivity for 70 years. It wasn't a happy place. It wasn't
a time that they enjoyed. They were in captivity. They weren't able to do what
they wanted to do. And they would have had plenty of
time for reflection upon the words that they had heard and
had ignored and had assumed that they could carry on in their
life just as they wanted to. They were able to do those things
which pleased themselves rather than listening and obeying the
Word of God. Plenty of time for reflection. And yet, they had ignored the
Word of God. And I'm sure to a greater or
lesser extent that is true of us today. We ignore the truth of God in
one way or another. We're not as honourable as we
should be in following the truth of God's word. Now, in this verse,
this particular statement, we are told, the people of God
are told, down through the ages, the word of God is true. This
is what we are told. As we begin this new year, we
are told this, learn not the way of the heathen. Learn not the way of the heathen. Now the truth is, the way of
the heathen is to be observed all around us. Perhaps the way of the heathen
has never been so close to us as it is in the day in which
we live. And you may say, well, why do
you think it's closer today than it was before? Well, I'll tell
you why I think it's closer today. We have a thing called the Internet, which, used rightly, is a great
blessing. Used wrongly, is a great curse. And you and I are to be warned
that we are not following the way of the heathen. Now, be sure of this, the devil
will try and sidetrack us from the things of God. And you and
I possess, by nature, a sinful nature, a nature which is evil,
a nature which goes after the vanities, the lusts of this poor
dying world. And the devil is very keen that
you and I should learn the way of the heathen. And the truth is that as we are
left perhaps to follow a wrong path, the result is that we become
gospel hardened. What do I mean by that? I mean
that the gospel doesn't have the effect upon us that it should
do. We hear the gospel and it doesn't
affect us. We hear the word of God and it
doesn't do us any real good because we are hardened against the truth
of God. The fact is that the way of the
heathen has crept in to our lives, crept in to our minds, crept
in to our heart. And it's very difficult to then
get rid of it, to get rid of it. Things which you and I see
with our eyes, come in to our minds, and it's very hard to
get rid of things that you and I have seen, wrong things that
you and I have seen with our eyes and things that we've heard
with our ears. It's a very, very sad thing that
we more easily absorb evil than we do good. We very easily remember
wrong things than we do good things. So we are told here by
the word of God, how good it is that God is gracious to us
and points to us, points out to us the likely problems that
we are to face and gives us such a very gracious warning. It is Thus saith the Lord. Not the word of a man. Thus saith
the Lord. Learn not the way of the heathen. Now, Israel of old had to be
reminded of this truth. And my friends, I'm sure you
and I today also need to be reminded of this truth. in very similar words, Moses
spoke to the children of Israel in his day. And remember, in
Moses' day, there had been wonderful revelations of God's presence
and God's power and God's authority. And yet sadly, again and again,
Israel had turned their back upon the truth of God's word. And Moses was not allowed to
go and enter into Canaan because he disobeyed the Word of God. Don't forget that. You cannot
trifle with God's Word. You cannot allow yourself to
disobey the Word of God. Moses had disobeyed the word
of God and was not allowed to enter into Canaan. But just shortly
before he died, he recorded what God had done for Israel and instructed
them to be aware of those things which were likely to, they were
having to face when they entered into Canaan. And he tells us
in the 18th chapter of Deuteronomy, the 9th verse. When thou comest
into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and you
might think therefore that everything is going to be plain sailing,
but no, he says, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations
of those nations. A warning, isn't it? Thou shalt
not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. How needful
it was in those days. And my friends, how needful it
is for us in our day. We are surrounded with evil. Surrounded with the acts of the
heathen. It is everywhere to be observed. And we need much grace to be
able to hear an exhortation like this today, and to walk it out,
learn not the ways of the heathen. Many years after Moses, the Psalms
were written. Part of course from the Psalms
that Moses wrote himself. But most of them were by David
or Asaph. 6th psalm is a psalm which revises
or rather rejoins the situation which existed when Moses was
on the earth. And they recount how the Lord
was favourable to them, but also they are reminded of what they
forgot. And just very briefly in this
106th psalm, we read this then believed they his words, they
sang his praise. That's good, wasn't it? They
believed his words, they sang his praise. They soon forgot
his works. They wanted, waited not for his
counsel. Oh, you see how easy it is to
forget the words of God. And further on, in this psalm,
we read verse 35, but were mingled among the heathen and learned
their works. You see, when you and I are mingled
with the heathen, and we are, we have to live in this world,
when we don't live in monasteries, the Lord's called us to live
in this world, and we therefore will mingle with the heathen. We mingle with them in our lives. In your school days, you children
will mingle with the heathen. When you go to college or university,
you'll mingle with the heathen. When you go to work, you'll mingle
with the heathen. In the area you live, you'll
mingle with the heathen. Here we have this statement,
but were mingled among the heathen and learned their works. Now my friends, the important
statement for us this morning is, learn not the way of the
heathen. We mingle, we have to, but we
are not to be of the world. The Word of God gives us very
clear guidelines. with regards to separation. Separation, of course, is not
easy. Separation is difficult, to be
separated from the world. We are to live in the world,
but we are not to be of the world. And that is a very important
consideration. Now, let's just take it in this
way. The heathen, they have a religion. All the heathen have a religion.
The atheists have a religion. It's a religion of atheism. All
the world has a religion. But that religion is a religion
of works. The religion of the heathen is
a religion of works. They are dependent upon what
they do for their honour and glory in their way to please
themselves. For the most part that is the
way of the heathen. Well, we are not to learn that
way. Now, that's not to say that you
and I are not to do good works. Of course we are, because we're
told by James, faith without works is dead. We are to do those
things which are for God's honour and for God's glory. But we are
not to learn, therefore, this way of the heathen, which is
to follow a religion of works. Many people today try to do that
which they think will justify themselves before their gods,
or as the atheists do those things which they want to do and to
satisfy their own conscience as they think, rather than to
do those things which the true conscience directs them in. Everyone
has a conscience. Everyone. Everyone deep down
knows there is a God. But for the most part, people
reject that evidence that conscience gives to them in their hearts,
and therefore decide to turn away from the true God, the ever-living
God. Now, Jeremiah here was speaking
to a people who were aware of the truth of God. They were aware
of the truth of God. And it's a wonderful thing for
us today, isn't it? Because we are aware of the truth
of God. We read the Bible. The truth
of God is expounded to us. We are aware of the truth of
God. We're not ignorant of God's truth. None of us will be able to say,
well, of course, I didn't know anything about the truth of God.
We do know. We may have turned our back upon
God's truth. We do know the truth of God. So here we have this statement,
learn not the way of the heathen. We have very solemn examples
in the Word of God, especially in the Old Testament. When Solomon died, his son Rehoboam
came to the throne. And he was to rule just over,
really, Judah. And another king, Jeroboam, was
to reign over the other tribes. And the sad thing was this. Jeroboam
knew the truth of God. But Jeroboam was afraid that
The people wouldn't go up to Jerusalem and therefore he wanted
to make sure that they would continue to remain with him.
So what did he do? He made two golden carves. One in Bethel and one in Dan. He told the people, well you
needn't go up to Jerusalem to worship. You can just go to these
places. They're more local. It's easier
for you. Go there and worship. Don't worry
about going up to Jerusalem. And we read time and again in
the word of God that kings and people followed the way of Jeroboam
who caused people to sin. What were they doing? They were
going the way of the heathen. What a sad, what a sad thing
it was. They followed the false way. They followed the way of the
heathen instead of going up to Jerusalem. Well, it was a long
journey. Yes, but there was a place of true worship. There was a
place where they were to go. But it was easier to just go
to this local place and to follow the ways of the heathen. And then there were many occasions
later on when the people, they made alters in higher places. Here they didn't bother about
going back to Jerusalem. Many kings came and perhaps they
removed some of the idols but very often they left the high
places. What were they really effectively
doing? They were following the ways of the heathen. They were
learning the way of the heathen. So we have these very solemn
warnings in the word of God to direct us to do that which is
right and not to learn the way of the heathen. Well, we may think, that's all
right, that's all very negative. Well, it is very negative. Well,
it directs us, does it not, to the positive side of religion. The positive side, of course,
is not to follow the ways of the heathen, but to follow the
ways of the Lord. and how important for us it is,
as we enter this new year, to indeed follow the ways of the
Lord. Oh, what a blessing it is that
we have so much instruction in the Bible to tell us which way
to go. Again, let's revert to Deuteronomy. We've already spoken about The
warning that Moses gave, not following the ways of the heathen.
But he also, of course, beautifully directed them to the right way. And earlier on in the 4th chapter
of Deuteronomy, we read in the 10th verse, this statement. Especially
the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when
the Lord said unto me, gather me the people together, and I
will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me
all the days, that they shall live upon the earth, and that
they may teach their children." That was an earnest desire of
Moses in his old age. He was so concerned that those
people that he had led for those 40 years might follow the right
way. And so he comes and says, gather
me the people together and I will make them hear my words and they
may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon
the earth. Well, what wonderful instruction
for us today. That you and I may learn the
ways of the Lord all the days of our life. And we are told, And ye came
near, and stood under the mountain. And the mountain burned with
fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick
darkness. And the Lord spake unto you out
of the midst of the fire. Ye heard the voice. of the words
but saw no similitude only ye heard a voice and he declared
unto you his covenant which he commanded you to perform even
ten commandments and he wrote them upon the two tables of stone
that people heard the word of the Lord my friends we've heard
the Word of the Lord. All of us, have we not? We cannot
say, you cannot say, I cannot say, well, we've never heard
the Word of the Lord. The Word of the Lord has been
declared. The Word of the Lord has been spoken. And then later on in this same
book of Deuteronomy, Moses says, gather the people together, chapter
31, verse 12, Gather the people together, men and women and children
and thy stranger that is within thy gates. You see, it's encompassing,
isn't it? It's a full statement. Yes, the men, the women, the
children and the stranger. We're not going to leave them
out. Yes, the stranger, bring them
in. You might hear the word of God,
that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the
Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this Lord,
and that their children, which have not known anything, may
hear and learns the fear of the Lord
your God, as long as ye live in the land, whither ye go over
Jordan to possess it." Well, it was a wonderful way of instruction,
wasn't it? It was what Moses desired, that
they might know the children, the people, and the strangers
and their children. may come to hear and to know
and to understand and to be blessed with the fear of the Lord. Well, may this be our great concern
and our great desire as we move into this new year that we may
follow the word of the Lord. We may learn the ways of the
Lord and not learn the ways of the heathen. Learn not the way
of the heathen. And then as we turn to the Psalms
for that statement about the heathen, we can also turn to
the Psalms for the statement in regards to the following of
the people of God and Psalm 119, that beautiful and wonderful
Psalm which gives us so much instruction. Psalm 119 and reading
verse 71. It is good for me, now listen
to this, it is good for me that I have been afflicted. You may say, well that's a strange
statement, a strange statement, but he qualifies it, and this
is what he says, that I might learn thy statutes. That means learn the truth of
God. Sometimes God brings us into
sickness, brings us into illnesses, where we learn the truth of God. Well, it's a good thing if we
can look back in our lives, the times when we reflected God afflicted
us. And we learnt. The Lord instructed
us. The Lord blessed us. And what
does the psalmist go on to say? The law of thy mouth, the word
of God, the truth of God is better unto me than thousands of gold
and silver. He compares it with the vanity
of this world. And the truth of God is far superior,
far better than all the things of this vain world. Thy hands
have made me and fashioned me. Give me understanding that I
may learn thy commandments. Oh, it's a glorious expression,
isn't it, that the psalmist uses here. Yes, it's time of affliction. but the benefit it brought and
that would be a good thing in our lives if we find the benefit that these
things bring a hand of God upon us thy hands thy hands have made
me and fashioned me give me understanding that I may learn thy commandments
This is learning the right things, not learning the way of a heathen. How easy it is to find ourselves
going the wrong way. Titus is a little epistle, a
letter that the apostle Paul wrote to Titus. It is full of
instruction and it teaches us some of the things that should
not be done and some of the things that should be done. And he speaks
about the things that are right and they should be done in the
second chapter. And it's very informative. And
it tells us really about the right way and the wrong way. And he says this, speak thou
the things which become sound doctrine, not false doctrine,
sound doctrine. Thou art bespoken. Let the aged
men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in
patience. This is the right way. This is not learning the way
of the heathen, this is learning the way of the Lord. The aged
man is sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in
patience. And then the women, likewise,
that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine. Teachers
of good things. My friends, good things means
the way of God. It doesn't mean the way of a
heathen. It means the way of God. You
women, you ought to teach the children. You ought to teach
them good things. and that they may teach the young
women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
to be discreet, chaste, keep us at home, good, obedient to
their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed,
We don't often perhaps think about these things. It's not the way of the heathen,
is it? It's the way of God. You and
I should be very concerned that as men, as women, we follow this
way. And then, he gives another example,
young men, Young men, likewise exhort to be sober-minded. Sober-minded really means to
be taken up and concerned with the things of God. Sober-minded. In all things show thyself a
pattern of good works. We are to be a pattern in this
world, a pattern of good works, to show forth the things that
are right, not learning the way of the heathen. Pattern of good
works in doctrine, showing uncorruptness,
gravity, sincerity, We are to be grave in the things of God.
I don't mean in the ground, but I mean gravity means to be very
serious. We're dealing with serious things.
Eternal realities. And young men are to be occupied
in this. Good works. In doctrine showing
uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned. Sound speech that cannot be condemned. That's a very high standard,
isn't it? But it's a very important consideration that our speech
might be sound. That means we don't swear. That
means we don't say anything which is evil. We don't say anything
which is wrong. We don't tell any lies. He is
the truth. Sound speech that cannot be condemned,
that he which that is the contrary part may be ashamed, having no
evil thing to say to you. Exhort servants to be obedient
unto their own masters and to please them well in all things,
showing all good fidelity. that they may adorn the doctrine
of God, the Saviour of all things. And then just very briefly, moving
on, this is the third chapter for a few moments, but put them
in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates,
to be ready to every good thing, to speak evil of no man, to be
no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men. But
we ourselves also were sometimes foolish. How true, how sad we
have been, my friends, perhaps we feel we are still today. Foolish,
disobedient, deceiving, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living
in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. Well,
that's really the way of the heathen, isn't it? But, here we have, but after
the kindness and love of God our Saviour, the Warden Man appeared. Oh, this morning, are we able
to trace that out in our lives? The love of God our Saviour,
as appears to us revering Himself to us as our great and glorious
Saviour, One who has not dealt with us as our sins deserved. When we follow the way of the
heathen, the Lord hasn't dealt with us as we deserved, but He's
been gracious toward us. His loving kindness has been
shown to us. We realise in some measure what
He's done to deliver our soul from the wrath to come, Oh, to
lay down His life, that we might have life. But after the kindness
and love of God, our Saviour toward man appeared. Not by works
of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy
He saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of
the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus
Christ, our Saviour, the glory of the Gospel, to follow the
ways of the Lord Jesus Christ, that being justified by His grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. And so he sums it up like this,
this is a faithful saying And these things I will that thou
affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might
be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable
unto men. This is the way of the Lord. But the way of the heathen. Avoid foolish questions and genealogies
and contentions and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable
and vain. A man that is an heretic after
the first and second admonition reject, knowing that he that
is such is subverted and sinneth, being condemned of himself. And so he says, and let us also
learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they
be not unfruitful. Now what a blessing it is today,
if we hear this word of the Lord, learn not the way of the heathen. That we don't follow the things
of the world. They're all around us, my friends.
They crowd into us. They try and absorb us. The warning
is here. Learn not the way of the heathen. Turn away from it. and follow
that which is good. And what is that? The Lord Jesus
Christ. He tells us, I am the way, the
truth and the life. And may we learn His way. May we learn what He has done.
May we be a true follower of our Lord and Master, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And as we therefore go forth
into this year, May it be our real prayer and our real concern
to be kept from going and learning the way of the heathen but we
found living closer and nearer to the Lord Jesus Christ and
learning of him so that we may grow in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.