Bootstrap
Paul Mahan

Old Paths, The Good Way And Rest For Your Soul

Jeremiah 6:16
Paul Mahan January, 18 2009 Audio
0 Comments
Jeremiah
What does the Bible say about seeking the old paths?

The Bible encourages seeking the old paths as a way to find rest for your souls (Jeremiah 6:16).

In Jeremiah 6:16, God calls His people to seek the old paths, the good way, and walk therein, promising that they will find rest for their souls. This passage highlights the importance of returning to the foundational truths of Scripture and the faithful paths laid down by previous generations. This encouragement to ask for the old paths is a call to recognize the wisdom of God's unchanging Word amidst the chaos and falsehoods of the current age. It is a reminder that true peace and rest are found not in novel ideas but in the timeless truths of Scripture.

Jeremiah 6:16

How do we know the doctrine of Christ as the way is true?

The doctrine of Christ as the way is affirmed throughout Scripture, especially in John 14:6.

Jesus declares in John 14:6 that He is the way, the truth, and the life, providing a clear affirmation of His role as the only path to God. This doctrine is further supported by the entirety of Scripture, which points to Christ as the fulfillment of God's promise for salvation and reconciliation. The old paths referenced in Jeremiah lead us directly to Christ, who embodies the truths of Scripture and exemplifies the way we are to live. Through faith in Him, believers find forgiveness, purpose, and the promise of eternal life, demonstrating the unwavering truth of His claims.

John 14:6

Why is finding rest in Christ important for Christians?

Finding rest in Christ is essential for Christians as it provides peace and assurance through faith.

Rest in Christ is presented as a fundamental aspect of the Christian faith, as seen in Matthew 11:28-30, where Jesus invites all who labor and are heavy laden to come to Him for rest. This rest symbolizes not just physical relief but deep spiritual peace that comes from knowing our sins are forgiven and our relationship with God is restored. The call to rest in Him is an encouragement for believers to rely on His work rather than their own, recognizing that true peace is found in surrendering to His grace. As Christians walk the old paths, they find security and stability in Christ alone, who is our hope and anchor in the storms of life.

Matthew 11:28-30

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

100%
Now go with me to Jeremiah, the
book of Jeremiah chapter six. As said earlier, I urge you to
read this book. It is very, very, very profitable
and applicable to our day. Jeremiah is God's prophet to
this day, and look at what he says in verse sixteen. Thus saith the Lord. And ye in
the way, and seek, and ask for the old path, where is the good
way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls."
This is good. This is good, and I hope the
Lord makes this good. Jeremiah was, as said, the prophet
of God, with the Word of God. All he did was repeat or declare
what God had said. Thus saith the Lord. If they speak not according to
this word, there is no light in them. Well, the Lord gave
Jeremiah a burden for that word. That means a heavy, it weighed
heavily on him. That's a burden, something that
weighs on you. He had a burden for that word,
wanted to tell it, and he had a burden for the people to hear
it. That's what it means to have
a burden for the word, to preach it, to have this weighty responsibility
and a burden that the people might hear it and believe it.
He's called the weeping prophet. He's a weeping prophet. Throughout this book you'll see
him, hear of him weeping. He wept over, you know, the book
of Lamentations, the weeping prophet. Well, he wept over his
own sins and he wept over the sins of
his people. He wept over the state of his country. Like Paul, we heard on the radio
this morning, he had desire that the people of Israel might be
saved. He's a countryman. He wept over the sad state of
his nation, over the multitude of false prophets. Jeremiah.
It wasn't funny at all. It was grievous to him, what
all they were saying about God and how they were misleading
the people. It was grievous, and he wept
over them. And I thought, how I wish that the Lord would give
us this burden, starting with me, and would cause us to weep. Do you remember when our Lord
was carrying His cross? And then what he said to the
women that wept for him, he said, don't weep for me. But he said,
weep. Weep for yourselves and for your
children. He's going back to the, don't
weep for me. Don't weep for those who've gone to be with the Lord.
Weep for ourselves and our children. And I thought about Psalm 126
in this thing of weeping. Psalm 126, verse 6 says, "...he
that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious truths..." This
is that incorruptible truth. "...he that goeth forth and weepeth,
bearing precious truths..." Oh, Lord, I just gladdened. You must give me credit. "...shall
doubtless Without a doubt, come again to
his doorstep, bringing his keys with us." That old psalm, bringing
in the keys, we shall come rejoicing. That's where that comes from.
Well, the Lord does use his word, foolishness called preaching.
He says in verse 10, this just doesn't sound familiar. He says,
to whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Doesn't
that sound like Jeremiah of old? Huh? I mean, Isaiah of old, who
said, Who hath believed our report? To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? He said, Their ears are uncircumcised. They cannot hearken. The word
of the Lord is unto them a reproach. The natural man perceiveth not
the things of God. He that can know it. If we receive
it, oh my, if we have ears to hear, to hear in ear and see
in eyes of the Lord, thanks the Lord, if you hear this and receive
it like the Thessalonians who said, about Paul, they received
the Word as it was in truth, the Word of God, not the words
of a man. And in our day, very few people
really believe that this is God's Word. Certainly, Brother John,
I certainly don't believe the Old Testament has any application
about this, any. It's the same book, same God,
same words, and he said, to whom will I give warning? You've heard my pastor say it. I've repeated it over and over
again. That the Word of God is full of warning. Read the prophets, and it seems
like that's mostly what they did. It is full of warnings. The Word of God is full of warnings
to an ungodly world, to a perishing world. Yes. Dire warnings. Yes. Mingled with
precious promises, sure promises, certain promises of mercy, salvation. What an old-fashioned,
what an old-fashioned message this is, huh? Out of fashion. Isn't it out of fashion? Our Lord, well, yes, our Lord
through Paul told young Timothy, preach the Word. In season or out of season, that
means even when it's out of fashion. Go back to Jeremiah, and he tells
the nation you live in, the people that they live in this nation,
judgment's coming. He hasn't changed, God hasn't
changed, the message hasn't changed. What's mercy about anyway? It's
spared from the wrath of God, isn't it? If you say this and preach it
with fear in our eyes, But it's out of fashion, isn't it?
Paul told young Timothy, the time will come when they will
not endure a sound doctrine. They'll turn away their ears
from the truth. Well, it hasn't changed, has it? Jeremiah said,
the worries are opposed to them. They don't want to hear that.
I don't want to hear that. They say, keep, just tell us,
keep, keep. And so that's what the false,
that's all the false prophets do, don't they? Look at verse twenty or verse
fourteen. He said that they see when there
is no. The most I don't know if I told
this here or not. He said it in Lexington. But. As a woman. So-called preacher in our little
local paper. Her name is George Myers. She's
an abominable topical. She has this nationally syndicated
column, and now it's in our little local paper every week. You've seen it. Well, back around
Christmastime, she had this article on peace, peace. It caught my
attention, so I looked at it. I never do, but I did this time. I read it word for word. I wanted
to see what she had to say, and I thought, I know what she said,
but I just want to confirm it. She said, peace, peace. She kept
talking about peace, peace with God, peace with him, peace with
others, making peace and quoting scripture here and there, but
never one time mention the name of Jesus Christ. Not once. Not once. Now, you and I know
there is no peace with God apart from the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Right? He is our peace. He has made peace for us. by being chastised. He hath made peace for us by
the blood of his cross. The peace we have within, it
comes from that. Believing that Christ paid for
our sins, that we have peace with the Holy God. He's angry
with the wicked every day, and he's not angry with us because
He took out his anger on Jesus Christ, right? There is no peace,
but they cry, peace, peace. Oh, how blessed we are, huh?
My, my. Well, he went on to say in verse
15, he talks about the sins of his people, of the nation he
lived in. They committed abomination. Were
they at all ashamed? No, but everybody's full of covetousness,
from the prophets, from the least to the greatest, and even the
prophets and the priests, full of it. And then, you know, I
went over and read Romans 1 with this, and I'll not have you do
that. Read it again and again and again, though, on your own.
It's such a clear description of our day. You know, everybody
talks about change right now. Everybody's all caught up with
change. Change is good. No, it's not. Don't meddle with them that are good and good. Here's the
change that's happened. Listen to this, Romans 1, it
says they changed the glory of God. They changed the glory of
the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man. That's what they're saying, change
this word. God gave them over, it says. So God gave them over,
listen. to uncleanness, to the lust of
their own heart, and here's what happens. They dishonor their
bodies. This is how you know that God's given them up. They
corrupt their own bodies. Who changed the truth of God
into a lie and worshiped and served man, the creature, more
than the Creator who's blessed? God bless forever. Amen. That's the change that men But now he says to us, here it
goes, this was Jeremiah to his people, had this blessed word
of promise. And it's now, it's today, look
at verse 16, here it is, it's old, this is the old landmark
right here. Are you with me? He says, Thus saith the Lord,
everything's bad in it. Everything looks bad, but thus
saith the Lord, Stand ye in the way, and see. Ask for the old
path, the old path, where is the good way, and walk therein,
and you will find rest on your way. Stand. That word, stand,
means stop. Everybody's in a hurry on this. We find that song, Oh God Our
Help, says all the busy tribes of flesh and blood. Read that.
So busy, everybody's running to and fro. And he tells us to
stop. Stop what you're doing. This
is, we've come apart into a desert place this morning. To stop and
consider. Stand. Stand still. Right where
you are. This is the tension when our
Lord stood in that great day and said, Ho! Is it nothing to you that passes?
Ho! Stop! Isaiah, do you remember this?
Their strength is to sit still. Stand still, see the salvation
of the Lord. Stand ye, stand ye, to me, yes
you, yes you, yes me, young and old, male and female. Stand ye
in the ways, he says, and see, open your eyes. Look around you. This is exactly what he's saying.
Open your eyes, take a look around at all that you see, all the
ways of man, the ways of the world. Take a look around you. What do you see? Here's what the Scripture says
about the ways of man. Stand ye in the way. Stop. Look
at the way. Here's the way. Here's what God's
Word says about man's ways. He says things like this. Their way is darkening. Their
ways are crookedness. Their ways are perverted. He said man has corrupted my
way. He says, "...destruction and
misery are in the way." There is a way that seems right to
man. Every man turns to his own way,
a way that seems right, what's the end? Always death and destruction. Stop. Take a look. Young people,
stop and see. Look around you. Now, I read to you Romans 1,
and this goes along with something I said this morning. When God,
in Romans 1, said that He'd given people over, it was because religion
was so corrupt. Because it paints the truth of
God into a lie, lying on God. And that's when things begin
to fall apart. That's when things begin to corrupt.
That's when man begins to just—when there's no fear of God before
their eyes, then there's nothing to fear. And he does anything,
and he goes on to say, the last evidence that they've been given
over is dishonor their body. Look around you, young people. It's like saying to people, here's
that God. Look around. Look at what's going
on. Look at what they're doing to
themselves. This is animals that don't do that. Animals. Animals don't do, don't cut themselves
or pierce themselves or mark themselves, but animals don't
do that. Man is no more corrupt now than
he was, but there's more of it. In the book of Genesis, when
the Lord said he was going to destroy man, what he said was,
the whole earth is filled with violence. Filled with it. Man is evil, our Lord said, from
his youth, his heart, but when the whole earth begins to be
full of it, then the Lord says, I don't know. And He said that, as in the days
of Noah, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. When the
earth is filled with violent, tell me, what do you fit around? That's all there is. Bloody men. Scripture speaks a lot about
bloody men. Disfigure their bodies. Well,
so he says, you're hearing this this morning, to whom, to whom
shall I speak and give warning? John Bates, that's him. Patrick
Hollis, that's him. Wesley Hudson, that's him. Mack
Torrey, Margaret Torrey, that's him. That's true. Give me your ears. Friends, Romans, Christians,
give me your ears, okay? Stop. Look around. Stop. Ask children. Ask for the old
path. For it is the good way. Old is better. It really is better. It's better in the old way. Go back to Deuteronomy 32. Deuteronomy
32. Go back there. You know, I think
back with longing. I think back with longing to
just 40 or 50 years ago. You find yourself thinking, boy,
I wish You know, Mayberry, I know, I know, I know that it was racial
prejudice and all, I know that, but generally speaking, wasn't
it a more decent time, a safer time? Men, Mindy and I were talking
about this, how a man's word actually meant something, it
was writing things down. But back then there was some
decency and a little bit of sense of honesty and morality, wasn't
there? Some integrity. People had some
integrity. There was some value. Young people went on dates with
ties on. What's wrong with that? Honestly, I look back on just
those, that's not really old days. That's just a few decades
back. Don't you? Don't you, Nancy,
look back on that a simpler time? I seriously doubt, you know,
if the Lord doesn't come in the next 30 or 40 years, I seriously
doubt if anybody will look back on this day and say, those were
good old days. I can't see it. I don't see anything
good at all in our society. Do you? Nothing. What do you blame all this on? What is it? Right here. It's right here. It's right all the time. When men began to corrupt a bit,
they began to be sustainable. began to want people, more people
than the priest. And they began to be more concerned
with getting people in to hear and build than whether anybody
is or not. That's the law of God. Well, Deuteronomy 32, look at
this, look at verses 1 through 7, Deuteronomy 32. He said, Give
ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak. Hear, O earth, the words
of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the
rain, O the rain, water of life. My speech shall distill as a
dew, as a small rain upon the tender earth showers upon Well,
it just sounds refreshing, doesn't it, Barbara? The powers of blessing. Oh, this today, don't I? Verse
three, because I will publish the name of the Lord. Oh, the Lord is my shepherd. Oh my, isn't that wonderful?
In the name of the Lord, ascribe you greatness under our God.
Here's a refuge, isn't it? Here's peace, here's joy, here's
rest for the soul. Come and hear about your God,
our God, our help. He is the rock. It's your favorite
chapter of the psalm. He is the rock. His work is perfect. All His ways, His ways are judgment. Now we're talking about the old
ways, God's ways. All His ways are judgment. God
of truth without iniquity, just and right. Everything He says
is right and everything He is is right. just and right. They corrupted themselves. It's
not the spot of history. They're a perverse and crooked
generation. Do you thus requite the Lord? Oh, prove it to people.
I read over in Jeremiah where he said in chapter five, he said,
Do people rebel against the God who gives rain? How could they? How could they
rebel against the one who gives rain? Oh, we've been getting some rain,
haven't we? Full pond. Selected full pond. Are the churches full? Well, these churches, isn't it?
But seriously, are people giving glory to God who brings the rain,
who sends the rain, mercifully? Read on. Oh, foolish people,
he said. Verse seven, remember the days of old, the olden days. Moses was even talking
about before him. Let's go back to the old days.
That's what Moses said in the Old Testament. Remember those olden days and
great years of years of many generations. Ask your father.
He'll show you. The elders, they'll tell you.
That's what I'm doing this morning. I'm showing you. I'm telling
you about these old paths wherein is the good way. All the paths
of the Lord, Scripture says, are this, plain. Plain. He said there's nothing There's
nothing to read. There's nothing hidden. Clank.
The Lord says, here's the way. Walk in it. What do you mean by that? No,
no, not what do you mean by that? There it is. Clank. All the ways of the Lord are
good. This is good work. It's good. You walk in this way, nothing
bad will happen. Is that right? Yes, it is. All things work together. Good, good. This is the good
way. Right. Well, let's stop and see
if there's a better way. No, there is no other way. There
is no other way. This is the right way. Every
way else is wrong. All the paths of the Lord, He
says, are mercy. Peace, peace, and so on and so
forth. All right, let me see if I can
bring this out for me and them. Look at it again. He says in
verse sixteen, "'As for the old paths, where is the good way?
And walk therein, and you shall find rest to your souls.'" What
are these old paths and this good way? What does it mean to
walk them? All right? Scriptures are bi-focal. Bi-focal. Some of you wear bifocals. I just ordered a new pair. I'm
going to get these things off my nose. I just ordered some
bifocals. And two things here I want us
to pick. All right? Up close and far away. All the paths, the old paths
of the Lord, point to Christ the White. All the old paths, every old
scripture, prophet, symbol, type, picture, Everything, everything
in this old book points to Christ. Who can do what? Christ Jesus
is all. He really is all. I mean, He really is all. Everything else is vanishing.
That's right. All is vanishing. Christ really is all there is.
He is life. He is peace. He is joy. He really is all. The path to
God. Everybody in the world says they're
trying to get to God. Christ said, I am the way. All the paths of peace. Everybody's talking about peace.
There's only one way of peace. The path of righteousness. We
can separate ourselves and live a monastic life, a secluded life,
and try our best. Martin Luther did. The sixth
innings, you can't do it. He can't do it. There's only
one way to be without sin. He's made unworthy. The path
of mercy. Oh my, may the Lord have mercy
on me. The path to pardon. Oh, my sins
are so forever before me. There's only one way to be pardoned. One way. Christ. All manner of sin and blasphemy
shall be pardoned. How? One way. All things are
purged. Christ. The path of life. He
that hath the Son hath not. Hath not? Hath not. Scripture is the best commentary
on this. Psalm 25. My wife and I were reading this
together, and she was reading it to me. This is such a blessing. Old Brother Barnard, you hear
me quote him a lot, don't you? Somebody said, you want to be
a good preacher, get a set of Persian sermons and a bunch of
Ralph Barnard quotes. or his famous quotes. Now, he
says, Scripture is the best commentary on Scripture. All right, what
are the old paths and the good ways? Psalm 25 says this, verse
4, Show me thy ways, O Lord, teach me thy paths. Lead me in
thy truth and teach me, for by art thee God of my salvation.
On thee do I wait all the day. Remember, O Lord, thy tender
mercies and thy loving kindnesses. They have been ever of old. That
means you've done it to others. Remember not the sins of my youth. Remember that last Sunday? Oh,
Lord. Remember not the sins of my youth?
Well, how will he forget them? Read on. Nor my transgressions. According to thy mercy, remember
thou me for thy goodness' sake, O Lord. What? Who? Christ. For Christ's sake. He's off of
Christ. You see, the covenant with Christ,
good and upright, verse eight, is the Lord. Therefore will he
teach sinners in the way. The way. Everything God's old
path, all that God has ever said, points to the good way, leads
to the way, Christ's way, the good way. We don't know the paths
of the Lord. The meek will he guide in judgment,
the meek will he keep his way." What's that? All the paths of the Lord are
mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimony. What's that? Lay hold on the
gospel. Well, everything God will lead
you through and through is mercy and truth. This points to Christ. Man, see, ask for the old path.
Secondly, listen to this. Listen to this. He said in our
text, ask for the old path where it's a good way and walk therein. Are you with me? Walk therein,
and you shall find rest for your soul. Rest for your soul. Our Lord said, Come unto me,
I will give you rest. He said, I will be your peace,
give you peace, my peace I leave with you that I made with God,
and peace I give you. All right? Here's the thing. Scripture speaks of Christ's
way, points us to look to Christ's way and lead us the way of Christ. Let's begin. Scripture and all
the old paths lead us to Christ's way and show us the way of Christ. In other words, in Walter's view. Christ is not only our substitute,
he's our example. All right, let's look at this
just a few more minutes, okay? This is, this is Bible. Go to
Ephesians 2. Ephesians chapter 2. And when I mention Ephesians
2, your, your eyes light up, your heart skips, doesn't it?
You love it. You love it. You love it. Well, the way that Christ walked, He walked for our sins as our
service did, established us like this. And He also, and He walked
as our example, our example. The way Christ walks is the way
of obedience, the way of honesty, the way of
integrity, the way of goodness, meekness, submission. I'm not pretty obedient or work
for salvation is the last time I'm afraid. I'm not pretty you
know I'm not work or salvation for the cause of. And that there's a certain amount
of wealth. He said look at it he's a very. By grace are you saved through
faith. We know that. Aren't you glad?
And that's not of yourself. It's the gift of God. It's faith.
It's not of work, lest any man should boast. For we are His
workmanship. Should God be all the glory,
right? Why does He do this? We're created in Christ Jesus
unto good work. which God hath before ordained,
that we should walk in them as obedient children." That's what
it's all about. He said in verse 2, he said,
you were children of disobedience. In verse 3, he said, children
of wrath, even as others. But God, but God. and making his children
obedient children, not children of wrath, that is, angry, but
reconciled, peacemakers. So we look to Christ. You know,
we look at chapter 4. Look at chapter 4. He said in verse one, I beseech
you, brethren, I beseech you, that you walk worthy of the vocation
wherein you are called. With all loneliness and meekness
and longsuffering, forbearing one another in love. What did
our Lord say over in Matthew 11? We quote it while it does.
Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am me. It's a good way. That's the best
way. It's the only way. Everything our Lord said is really
the only way. It's a good way. It's best. Whatever
He said. Mary said, do it. It's the good
way. You'll find rest. Uh huh. Turn the other cheek, give to
him that asks you, and on and on it goes. Right? Blessed are
the peacemakers, who do righteousness, postponing peace for them that
make peace. Everything you said. Look at
verse 17 and 20, or 17 on. It says, This I say in testifying
the Lord. Chapter 4. that ye went forth,
walk not as other Gentiles walk, but vanity of their mind, having
the understanding darkened, alienated with this ignorant blindness."
Verse 19, "...hath given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to
work all uncleanness because of this greed." Oh no, you haven't
so learned. We've learned better, haven't
we? Christ is plainly shown us. They shouldn't have everything
and have nothing. You shouldn't have nothing in
this world and have everything. They said the son of man doesn't
have where to lay his head, or if he's content. Obedience. He walks in, if he
walks in the room, what he says, sin and disobedience bring guilt. Guilt brings shame. Shame brings
worry and fear of consequence. It makes you lose sleep. Our Lord learned obedience to
sin by the things He suffered. And did He lose any sleep worrying
about whatever? Worry about where He's making
meals? He slept in that boat, you know,
during that storm, when everybody else was searing for their lives.
Amen. He says over in chapter 5, he
says this in closing, These followers of God, as dear children, walk
in love as Christ also hath loved us, hath given himself for us. It's hard to tell our young people
this morning, and I'm telling them now. That if you try to
make yourself happy, if happiness, your own happiness, is all you
want from here on, you're going to be a miserable, miserable,
miserable person because you cannot satisfy yourself. Self cannot be satisfied. And
our Lord plainly showed us this when it truly is more blessed
to give than to receive. It truly is more blessed to serve. And John said, Little children,
these things I write unto you that ye fend not. Don't do it. Don't do it. Do what he said.
He'll be obedient to it. Not fashioning yourself according
to the former ignorance of the people. He'll be obedient to
it. That's the good way. That's the good way. I'm glad
he added this. But if any man sin, and if any
man sin, and we will, we do, as children, our children, we,
his children, we will fall because of sin. Talk to young people about your
parents trying to protect their children
from going a certain place. It's not that we distrust them,
it's that it's others. But here's the point, too. Temptations
are awful strong, and the strongest child can fall to them. So, lead us not into temptation. That's the question. That's the
real question. Ask. Seek. Stand in the old paths,
for it is a good way. You'll find rest for yourself.
If any man sin, look to Christ. Look to Christ. All sins forgiven. Every sin blotted out. Past,
present, and even future, thank God. Look to Christ. And you want to know how to walk? Look to Christ. That's the good
way. He's the way, and he's the good
way. Isn't it? He's the way to God,
he's the way of peace with God, and he's the way of peace here. Yes. Then, with others, go sleep
at night. All right, let's bring in closing
that in right now. In number 722, let's stand together. Sing them over and into me, wonderful
words of life. Let me more of their beauty see,
wonderful words of life. Words of life and beauty, sweet,
sweet faith and beauty. Beautiful words, wonderful words,
wonderful words of life. Beautiful words, wonderful words,
wonderful words of life. Christ, the Blessed One, gives
to all wonderful works of life. Sinnerless to the loving call,
wonderful works of life. All so freely given, flowing
up to heaven. Beautiful word, wonderful word,
wonderful word of life. Beautiful word, wonderful word,
wonderful word of life.
Paul Mahan
About Paul Mahan
Paul Mahan has been pastor of Central Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, Virginia since 1989; preaching the Gospel of God's Sovereign Grace.
Broadcaster:

Comments

0 / 2000 characters
Comments are moderated before appearing.

Be the first to comment!

0:00 0:00