May the Lord be pleased to bless
us together this evening as we consider his word. Let us turn
to the prophecy of Jeremiah, chapter 6, and we'll read verse
16. Jeremiah's prophecy, chapter
6, and reading verse 16. 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 ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said we will not walk
therein. was a difficult and sad day in
which Jeremiah lived. It was a day which was to bring
the wrath of God upon Judah and Benjamin, who were abiding in
Jerusalem, and they were to be taken captive by King Zedekiah,
that Chaldean king, And the reason, the reason quite clear, they
had turned their back upon God. What did they say? They said,
we will not have this man to reign over us. They would not bow down before
Almighty God. They were rebellious. They were hard-hearted. And so, that which had been prophesied
over a good number of years by several prophets, came to pass. And how we learn from these things,
that we have a God that we must not and cannot trifle with. The
tendency is our human nature to take God as one of ourselves,
to put him into a position of a little God, with really not
much power and really not much concern about what we do or say. But how far from the truth is
that? Indeed we have to deal, and we do have to deal, every
one of us, will have to deal with this great and almighty
God that we read of in the Word of God. And He is a God which
is not to be trifled with. We dare not. We dare not ignore
that great God. And therefore, if we are not
to ignore that great God, we must not ignore the Word of God. and the Word of God is displayed
to us and given to us through the Scriptures, the Bible. On the one hand, therefore, we
would desire to thank God that we have the Bible. On the other
hand, to realise our great responsibility and how solemn it is to realise
there have been and there are and there will be those who turn
away and will not respect the truth of God's Word. You know, we read together in
this chapter several statements where the outward Church of God
was so rebellious, so rebellious And when we think that the Lord
very graciously sent the prophets to speak to these people the
truth of God. The Lord was gracious in doing
that and yet they ignored those things which were spoken. They
turned their back. We read Were they ashamed when
they committed abominations? No, they were not at all ashamed,
neither could they blush. You see there, do we not, the
hardness of man's heart. What do we see? We see a seared
conscience, no feeling, no response to the great truths of God. And then in the verse we read,
the final line, we will not walk therein. Open rebellion. My friends, that may be so in
our hearts, in our path. We should not read the word of
God and think, well, that doesn't apply to me. We need grace to look into our
hearts very carefully. to see whether it does apply
to us. And it may be that we've made
such a statement in our hearts. We will not walk therein. And then the following verse,
we're told, Also I set watchmen, and those of course, watchmen
in the Word of God are referred to as those who preach the Gospel.
Also I set watchmen over you, saying, hearken to the sound
of the trumpet." But they said, we will not hearken. We will
not hearken. As you may remember, we began
this chapter by reading these words. Gather yourselves to flee
out of the midst of Jerusalem and blow the trumpet in Sikai.
Sikai was a town about 12 miles away from Jerusalem. And set
up a sign of fire in Beth-harazirim. And that meant really bonfires
or to show the sign for evil appeareth out of the north and
great destruction. But you see Israel didn't take
heed to it. They would not listen to that which was spoken to them. And we know what happened. They
were carried away into captivity. And you see in that state of
captivity They lost all the benefits which had been theirs. No longer
the temple, no longer able to offer the sacrifices in the appointed
way, no longer to have a high priest to go in on their annual
occasion to atone for sin. Oh, it was a tremendous loss. that Judah had to endure. So God's judgments came to pass. So we have a record of these
details and as I've said before on several occasions, there is
a large amount of the Bible which refers to this period in the
history of the world. to that time when Israel disobeyed
the word of God and the result, they went down into captivity. We must always remember that
what God has said comes to pass. It comes to pass because as we
read in the book of Malachi, I am the Lord, I change not He
goes on to say very wonderfully, therefore you sons of Jacob are
not consumed. That's a wonderful mercy. But
we tend to perhaps think that God changes. Changes his thoughts
or changes the way that we are allowed to react. Changes the
fact that perhaps there's some room for us to manoeuvre. We
don't have to follow the Lord. My friends, that's the devil
speaking into our hearts. Remember, we have a great adversary
whose aim is to turn us away from following the Lord, away
from the things of God. That's his great aim. And he's
very successful. He's sadly very successful. He
has been. And he still is today. How needful
therefore it is in our lives that we are given grace, and
we desire to have grace, and we desire to have strength to
resist the devil, to turn away from his assinuations and desires to direct
us against the Word of God. So we have this negative attitude,
this negative position, but we also have We bless God. We also have the positive word. We have the positive word in
this 16th verse. Thus saith the Lord. Thus saith
the Lord. This is God speaking. Isn't it
wonderful to have God speak to us? Yes, not man. Thus saith the Lord. And this
is the instruction God gives. Stand ye in the ways and sleep. and ask for the old paths, where
is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your
souls." So there's gracious instruction, gracious direction, and the outcome,
the blessing of the Lord. Now surely, that should be our
desire. And so here we are tonight, the
Lord speaking, Stand ye in the ways. Well, we are to stand. As we mentioned on Friday, when
we spoke on those verses, that first verse in the fifth of Galatians,
stand fast. It means we are not to lie down.
It means we are not to sit down. It means we are to stand. It
means that we're on a journey. We are on a journey. You and
I are on a journey. We're journeying through life. The journey started
when we were born. The journey ends when we die. And it's a journey. And we are
walking along a spiritual road. We might be walking along a broadway. which leads to destruction. We
may be walking in a narrow way, which leads to eternal life. But if we are those who the Lord
is speaking to, we are to be found in this place. He says, stand ye in the ways
and see. And see. What does that mean? When you
look around, where to determine where we are, where we've got
to, what a good exercise that is. You think of it in a natural
way, if you were journeying from one place to another, you might
have to, if you were walking, you might need to have to stop
and look around and consider which place, which road to take,
which path to take. It may be also, if you're driving
today, you come to a place, you may come to a roundabout, you
may not be sure which turning to take. It may be an old way,
there may be a new way. Well, the Lord says here, stand
ye in the ways and see. We are to observe the various
ways which exist. Remember the word of God tells
us, there is a way, that seemeth right to a man, but the end thereof
are the ways of death." We're not to go in that way which seems
right. We want to go in a way that is
right. And so, here we have this statement,
stand. Again, that means if we're standing,
we're alert. We're not sleeping, we're alert.
And here we are to look around and to see where we are to go,
stand ye in the ways, and see, to look around, and ask for the
old paths. To ask for the old paths. Now,
I'm sure we can picture that in a present situation, as we
may think of a journey. Again, if you may, as I said,
come to a roundabout, and maybe several ways, there may be a
bypass perhaps, a new way, an easy way, travel down it, looks
a nice easy way, maybe a narrow way, a more difficult way, the
old path that takes us through the town. We travel that way,
we see many things, old things, things that have been preserved,
Things which still exist, rather than travelling the new way and
not observing anything of any true benefit. And we may then,
it's only obvious to see, we are to ask for the old path,
that old path. Which is the old path? We're
to look and then we're to ask. Where's the old path? That's
a path I want to go in. And that's not the path that
nature would go. We want to go the easy way, don't
we? We want to go the way that gets us there quickest. We want
to plough on the easy way. But here the word of God directs
us to the old paths. The old path is a well-worn way. It's been used for a long time.
It's been used for a long time naturally in a road way, but
more so in a spiritual way. The old path. That's the path
which has been proved. That's the path which has been
tested. We know the route and we're told
about the route and we know it's the right way. So here we are,
thus saith the Lord, for the old paths. And he says, wherein
is the good way. It's not a bad way. You may think,
well, it's going to be more difficult. It's going to be harder. It's
going to be more inclines perhaps. More narrow places. But the Lord
said, it's the good way. And it's a good way, and we should
observe in that journey, then how those who've gone before,
have fought their battles, and they've overcome. And there will
no doubt be those signs of the battlegrounds. The evidence of
the warfare that has been endured and taken. but realise they didn't
fail, they continued the old paths. Now the old paths direct
us to the truth of God's word. And the old path set before us
in the word of God is this, it is through much tribulation
that we shall enter the kingdom. The old path is a path of following
closely our blessed and glorious example, the Lord Jesus Christ. The old path is to follow His
footsteps. If we think of the footsteps
of the Saviour, we think of what He had to endure, what He had
to face, Opposition. Criticism. Hardship. Nowhere to lay his head. A difficult path. A difficult
life. The old path. What a blessing
it is to be found walking in the right way. And the right
way is the good way. and ask for the old paths. Well, we can ask, and how do
we ask? Well, we can ask the Lord to show us the way. The Lord Jesus tells us, I am
the way, the truth and the life. We are to ask. What does that
mean? We are to pray. We are to pray
to our God that he will lead us in the right way, which is
the old path. The old path doesn't get easier.
It's still there. It hasn't been smoothed out. It's still there. The pilgrims
travel the old path. They follow the footsteps of
the Saviour. They are a true follower of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Have we prayed that the Lord
would lead us in that way? It may be a costly way. It may be a hard way. It may be hard for our feet.
It may not be easy. But you know the Lord says, Thy
shoes shall be iron and brass, and as thy days, so shall thy
strength be. We shouldn't be fearful. about
the old path. We shouldn't be fearful about
it being a hard way because the Lord will equip us to go in that
path. He'll equip us with those right
shoes, iron and brass, to withstand the difficulties. We'll be able
to continue and have the right footwear to walk down this path
and we'll find it is a good way. You know, as we travel down this
path, to be blessed then with spiritual views of the Saviour. You may not be able to rush along. If you'd gone on the bypass,
you'd rush along and you wouldn't have seen anything. But no, we
may have to travel slowly. We may have to travel slowly.
It's too difficult. We can't go fast. There's too many bends
and turns. and hills and up and down and
we can't go fast. We have to go slowly. And as
we go slowly, so the Lord reveals himself to us. If we were rushing
along, we would bypass these things. As it were, the Lord
comes and takes us aside as we journey on. Think of those two
on their way to Emmaus. Jesus himself drew near and went
with them. They were walking. They weren't
in a chariot. They weren't rushing along from
A to B. They were walking along. And the Lord Jesus came and drew
near. And we might think, what were
they doing? What were they doing? Well, they were really asking,
asking each other about the way, weren't they? The Lord came and
drew near. They were asking about the way. They didn't understand it. What
a blessing it is then, if as we are going on this old path,
the Lord comes and goes with us and reveals to us The reason
why we're going in this old way, because it's a way where the
Lord is. The Lord's been and the Lord
goes with us and reveals himself to us. Now there's no greater
blessing than to have the Lord draw near and to go with us and
reveal himself to us as he does not unto the world. Therefore
we can believe, thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways, and
see, and ask for the old paths. Because these old paths are where
you and I will be taught, where we will be shown ourselves, and
where he will reveal himself to us. You know, maybe you can
think of an old path, can't you? You can think of stones sticking
up, You can think of it difficult to walk and perhaps tripping
over stones. You might think this is a hard
way, but the Lord teaches, you see. He teaches us these things. If we do trip over things, we
need to remember, perhaps we've been looking around us, rather
than looking to the Lord. We are to keep our eyes upon
Jesus. We are to seek His face, we are
to seek His will, and we are to follow the path that He has
directed us in. You see, Israel of old were directed
very clearly as to what they were to turn away from. They
would turn away from all those things which pleased the flesh. They were to do those things
which were in accordance with the will of God. And those things
which were for the will of God were for the honour and glory
of God. They weren't for their honour and glory. And what did
they do? They continually decided to walk contrary to God. They
continually decided to choose what they thought was an easy
way. They continued the desire to
do without God. That was really the element of
their walk. They didn't want to have a contracted
situation. They didn't want to be hedged.
They didn't want to be in a narrow way. They didn't want to be confined.
They wanted to be found in a broad way, doing their own will and
pleasing themselves. What they didn't realise was,
that way was leading to destruction. How needful it is then for us
to be found here, standing in the way and seeing. What a blessing
if God has given us spiritual eyes to see. The Lord does give
spiritual eyes. And we're not to ignore the sight
that God gives to us. We're not to turn our eyes away
and think, I don't really want to look that way. I don't really
want to look that way. That looks too difficult. I think
I choose this easy path." No, says God. God says, ask. Ask now. You've seen what there
is. Now ask. Which is the old path? Which is the good way? That really means this. It means
submitting ourselves to God. We are encouraged to submit ourselves
under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt us in due time,
casting all our care upon him, for he careth for us. That means, what it says, to
come and cast all our care, and it's really like this, choose
thou the way, but still lead on. We want God to choose our
way. Well, I hope we do. You must
answer before God. Is that your prayer tonight?
Do you stand here? Do you hear God's Word speaking?
Thus saith the Lord, O Lord, choose my way. Give me grace. Give me wisdom. Give me understanding. to follow this old path. This old path in which the saints
of God have trod and they are happy now by God's grace and
we soon their happiness shall see. It's an old way. It's a proved way. It's not a
new way. It's a way which God's saints
have trodden. It's a way of blessing It's the way that the Lord has
walked. It's the way, my friends, you and I want to be found walking
in. And it's a good way. It's a good way. And as he says,
not only are we to see, not only are we to ask, but we are to
walk. We are to follow that way. We
are not to just see and stop. We're not to just see and ask
and stop. We are to see and ask and walk. That's clear, isn't
it? We don't need to have a highly
educated mind to understand that, do we? And who is speaking? Thus saith the Lord. My friends,
tonight, do not trifle with God. Do not trifle with God. Do not
think that you somehow are let out. The good way and walk therein. And then there's a promise. And
this is a wonderful thing. And ye shall find rest for your
souls. You may not find much rest for
your body. That doesn't matter. Your body will soon go to dust. But your soul will live forever. and you shall find rest for your
souls. And let me say this, the answer
of a good conscience before God brings rest and peace to the
soul. Otherwise, you'll be like a restless
ocean. You'll be churning up all the
time, churning around, no peace. Why? Because you're not listening. Why? Because you're not asking.
Why? Because you're not walking. Sometimes we seem to try and
make excuses. And we might say, well, of course,
if only God would speak to me about so and so, it would all
be fine. My friends, the Word of God sets
before us, very plainly, the right way. And we need to pray to God, perhaps
he will show us from his word, the way. Direct our reading to
the right way, so that we know. Sometimes the devil would try
to tempt us, to try and bring into our minds that we need some
amazing revelation, when in fact, God has given us His revelation
in His Word. And ye shall find rest for your
souls. Obedience to the will of God
brings rest to the soul. The answer of a good conscience,
rest to the soul. Where is the good way? Walk there
and ye shall find rest for your souls. Because if we're walking
in that way, you know where you'll walk. You'll come to the cross. You'll come to the cross. The
old way will bring you to the cross. If you go on the bypass,
you'll miss out. If you come to the old way, you'll
come to the cross. What will you see there? All
your hope of salvation. You'll see there By faith, the
Blessed Lord. You'll see by faith there, the
Blessed Lord dying in your place, bearing your sins, taking your
sins, and they're being washed away in His blood. This is the old path, my friends.
There's no other way. You'll want to come to the cross. There's no better blessing than
being found there, looking unto Jesus. You'll see there, Him is the
author of your faith, the one who has given you faith to believe. You'll see there, He's the finisher,
the one who will finish the faith for you. Oh, there'll be peace. Peace by His cross as Jesus made. That's the place of refuge. That's the place for rest. The
cross of Christ. The old path. Walk there in. Follow the old way, my friends.
Come to the cross. View the Saviour. No greater
place of blessing. Don't pass it by. It may not
be easy to get to. My friends, if you come there,
be a place of favour. And you shall find rest for your
souls. Rest is a very pleasing thing,
isn't it? To have rest. Very pleasing,
isn't it? When we're tired. Time a nice journey. That rest
is very pleasing. My friend, so it is spiritually.
You may be tempest-tossed. It's a very wonderful thing then. You may feel so weary. Well,
may we receive that grace to come to the cross. There is rest. There is peace, as you view the
Saviour. So here we have this gracious
exhortation by Jeremiah. Stand ye in the ways and see
and ask for the old paths. Ask for them. Where is the good
way? It's a good way. And walk therein. Follow it through. It's a very
blessed, a very important sequence. not something to be played around
with, nothing to be changed. It's God's ordered way, it's
God's divine way, it's God's blessed way. And walk therein
and ye shall find rest for your souls. May we know what it is
to walk this way and be blessed with rest for our souls. Amen.