Jeremiah chapter 6 and verse
16 for our subject of the day. Thus saith the Lord stand ye
in the ways and see and ask for the old path Where is the good
way? And walk therein, and you shall
find rest under your soul. Good exhortation, is it not?
People ought to receive that. But look at the last statement
of the verse. But they said, we will not walk
therein. The prophet says to them, seek
out the old way and walk in it. They said, we will not. Now,
I think that it might be a good thing to make some distinctions
up front with regard to the text that we're in today in order
that we might get the right meaning and understand it in its contextual
setting in the scripture. When the God through the prophet,
he sends the prophet unto them and he tells them Ask for the
old paths wherein is the good way. That was the command of
the prophet unto them. Now first I say again that we
brush close to this text a few weeks ago in a message from the
scripture At that time, we were preaching on those who sin without
shame and sin without blushing. They do not blush. They are not
ashamed of their sin. They sin openly in the sight
of God and of the people. Neither do they feel ashamed. Now, this was so often true in
the nation of Israel. And it is, to a large degree,
true in our present generation and in most countries and in
most societies about and around the world. Now, the thing that
stands out here, the thing that sticks out here in our mind,
is how callously and how crassly Did the people ignore the word
of God and the word of God through the prophet? Their reply was
in verse 16, we will not hearken. In other words, we're not going
to listen, we're not going to obey, we're not going to listen
to them. And with that you might compare
some things in the book of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament,
who replied to every charge that the prophet brought against them,
wherein have we done this? Wherein have we dishonored ye?
Wherein have we polluted thine altar? Wherein have we robbed
thee? That was their answer to every
chart. Now the text is one of many showing
the great disobedience of the people of Israel and some expositors
as I've already mentioned, think this was done not very long before
Israel was sent into captivity. What a time of distress and misery
that was under them. But in thinking about all of
that, And remember also that though Israel was a theocracy,
God was their God, and the law of God was their law and was
their way of life and concerned their law of God. And so therefore, not every Jew
was a spiritual believer. Or as Paul puts it, they are
not all of Israel, which are of Israel in Romans chapter 9
and in verse 6 of that particular place. Not everyone among them
had a renewed heart, not everyone among them was regenerate or
stood in the law of God. So in Israel's case, two things
are here to be considered. Number one, Some of them only
outwardly observed the ordinances of God and the days and the time
and the seasons and such like. They were not renewed in heart
and they only went through the motions of religion. Secondly,
because of that, some of them were easily led away, easily
led away, easily teased away by the false prophet. Some of
them even into idolatry. Some of them even begin to espouse
and worship the idol gods of the heathens round about them. and to the worship and the veneration
of the idols of the people that were heathen, as we call them. Listen, for example, again to
Isaiah's confession, or should we say, Isaiah's complaint that
he makes in the sixth chapter of Isaiah and verse five, saying,
I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. And that was
the feeling of Isaiah. And let us also not forget, in
considering the text, that the problem is greatly compounded
when the spiritual leaders of such a people are also corrupt. And we read here in this chapter,
chapter 6 of Jeremiah, and the 13th verse, these words, from
the prophets, even under the priests, Everyone deals falsely. Even the leaders were corrupt,
and they dealt falsely. They enriched themselves, and
they cared not about the welfare of the people. You ought to read
the last two verses of chapter 5 of Jeremiah. When the priest
and the leaders and the prophet were corrupt, were the people
offended? Did they leave? Did they turn
to God? No, the scripture said, my people
love to have it so. So they were not offended at
the corruption and the hypocrisy of the leaders. And again, I
think that reflects our society and our day. In both the secular
and in the religious realm of our day, where both governments
and religious leaders are for the most part corrupt, and enemies
of God. Now, we'll enlarge upon that
a little bit. The government and politicians
are corrupt from the top down to the bottom. And yet most people
are not greatly bothered by it. So long as they have their sports
and their movies and their concert and the latest electronic gadget
and plenty of booze and such like, they're not too terribly
worried about it. But then B, There are apostates
that are heads of denomination and leaders of churches and presidents
of seminary in our day, who not only have forsaken their creeds
of old and the confessions of faith of their founders and their
fathers, but have also turned aside from the scriptures as
well. giving the people another gospel
and another Jesus, and filling them with false hope and false
assurance, and the people gulp down this poison Kool-Aid every
Sunday morning. Now coming to our present text
and the subject in verse 16 and the exhortation of the prophet
to ask for the old paths wherein is the good way. Now this very
same prophet Jeremiah over in chapter 18 and verse 15 refers
to the ancient paths. the ancient or the old path. Job speaks in Job 24 13 of such
as rebel against the light saying they know not the way thereof
nor abide in the past thereof. Now past in the sense the word
in Jeremiah chapter 6 and verse 16. Other places where the same
word is used in the scripture, the word past being our point
of emphasis. For example, in Psalm 119 and
the 100, or rather the 35th verse, Make me to go in the path of
thy commandment. Same word we have in Jeremiah
6 and 16. Again in Isaiah chapter 59 and
verse 8. They have made them crooked paths. charges a profit upon them. It
seems that this word path here as it is used in this sense and
from this word has the meaning of a beaten or a trodden way,
a track a pathway, a way of travel that has been down and is marked
because we can see that it has been traveled. Now there's some
expositor that see the prophet here using a metaphor or a simile
in the verse that is our text. And it is the simile of one who
is going along a way, and he comes to a way where there is
a parting or a fork in the way, or where many ways conglomerate
and meet together. And he comes to that place, and
he stands before them. Imagine in your eyes, mind, a
traveler upon a journey and coming to the place in his journey where
these ways meet. exhorts him, stands still, that
he ought to consider, that he ought to ask wherein is the good
way, ask wherein is the old path, lest he get in the wrong way. and go off of his path and go
away that takes him unto a wrong or a bad end. Now, a couple of
examples, I think, might serve to help us to understand. The
words of the Lord Jesus Christ. found in Matthew chapter 7, verse
13 and 14, I know you're familiar with them, of the broad and the
narrow ways. And he said one leads unto life,
that's the narrow way, and the other leads unto destruction,
and that is the broad way. Again, think of the word of Moses
unto Israel. In Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse
15 through 20, I won't turn there, but it says this in essence,
I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil. And he exhorts them in verse
19, choose life that you may live. I have set before you this
day these things. But here in the 16th verse of
Jeremiah chapter 6 and our text today, we see a fourfold exhortation,
and they are four words. Let's point them out. They are,
number one, stand. Number two, see. Number three,
ask. And number four, walk. Stand,
see, ask, and walk. Stand you in the ways. As it is once said, stand still
and see the salvation of the Lord. Exodus 14 and 13. Now, we notice here that the
word ways is plural in the scripture in our text. Stand in the ways,
plural, and see. Do not rush hastily upon the
way without knowing it or without knowing the end. Neither follow
the throngs of people that are galloping along the way. Not rush hastily along without
knowing the end. Do not follow just because there
are many upon the route or upon the way. Neither follow the many. There is a way, you must remember,
that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways
of death." Proverbs chapter 14 and verse 12. So watch and see
and ask and walk. Let me give you an illustration.
We're on a journey and then coming to where several roads converge
together. Remember old traffic circles
and days gone by? We consult our maps that we might
find the way, or we follow the signs wherein they are marked. And if we have neither sign nor
map, then we ask someone familiar with the way that can point us
the way that we want and desire to go, lest we go upon a wrong
way and be led off of our path. Now, another point to ponder,
when one pretends to take up the Christian life, I said when
one pretends to take up the Christian life, soon they will discover
something. Soon they will find that there
are several criers crying after them when they enter in at the
door of Christendom. There are those who say, Come,
enter here. Come and follow me. Come. This is the way unto heaven. Now, in Christendom, there is
Arminianism, and there is Calvinism. There is Catholicism, and there
is Protestantism. There is dead formalism, and
there is irreverent exuberance to be found within the walls
of Christendom. One appeals to the emotion and
the flesh, one appeals to the intellect, which therefore is
the good way and the old path to be trodden. And remember,
some of them are new movements, and were not in vogue in the
days of our father. They were not the old paths.
They are not the old ways. And some of them, though they
are centuries old, are not the path that are commended by the
prophet of God. In Job chapter 22 and 15, as
his friend Eliphaz observed, there are some old ways which
wicked men have trod. There are some old ways that
wicked men have walked. just as doctrines which would
qualify in one sense as being ancient, but in another as not
being ancient enough. And yet, there is heresy. And there's heresy on every hand
and at every point. There is the heresy of free will. There is the heresy of the invitation
system. There is the heresy of purgatory. There is the heresy of the over-veneration
of Mary. There is the heresy that man
is innately or is basically good at heart and therefore just needs
to be pointed in the right direction. Have you heard the discussion?
They're beginning to discuss on the news and TV talk shows,
they're beginning to discuss now whether there might actually
be evil in the world. Some are beginning to say, you
know, there might be such a thing as evil in the world. And the
proof of it is all around us and everywhere, every day. Now the point is to be made,
and it was made by Matthew Henry, a writer, and that is we must
not be guided by ancientness alone, as if long use and long
practice were sufficient to justify a certain teaching or a certain
path or way. For example, the Pharisees had
long taught the traditions of men and the opinions and the
rule and the laws of the elders, and yet They were condemned by
Christ as being in a wrong way. When Christ came, he condemned
their ancient tradition and their long practices. Remember the
Samaritan woman? Our Lord met her at Jacob's well.
Remember how that woman reasoned for the rightness of her way
of worship and the place of her worship, saying, Our fathers
worshipped in this mountain. You'll find that in the Gospel
of John chapter 4. Our fathers worshipped in this
mountain, in this temple, and yet you, a Jew, say that is Jerusalem
the place where men ought to worship? Now, get this point. It is easy to assume and wrongly
assume that because a church was doing something when you
got there, that when a church was already practicing something
when you came among it, that it is right or that it has the
approval of Christ. In our text, the prophet calls
upon them, look, asked for the old paths wherein is the good
way, and then walk therein. Now what would the old path,
also called the good way, be in Jeremiah's time and Jeremiah's
meaning? What does he mean by the old
path and by the old way? Now to answer that, let us look
at the context in which it is found here. John Gill said these
words were spoken to the people in regard to the false prophets
and the false teachers that were among them, unquote. Not be blindly
led by the false prophet and the corrupt priest. that name
the name a priest. Back in verse 13, Jeremiah 6,
from the prophet, even under the priest, everyone deals falsely. The prophets are liars and the
priests are deceivers, the religious leaders. They prophesied lies
under them. They told them all is well, peace,
peace. God is a God of love. And their priests corrupted the
worship of God from what it had been instituted. And rather than
follow these corrupt leaders, they were exhorted to ask for
the old path, the old way, the good way, and walk therein. So again, the question faces
us, what would the old path be? How might we define them? Now, it is seen in the earliest
of the worshipers of God, what the old paths were. The old paths
were the practices and the walk of Abel and of Enoch and Noah
and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Sarah and Ruth and Esther
and on and on. The covenants made the laws were
given unto their fathers, both moral and ceremonial. The system of sacrifices was
put in place to be their schoolmaster unto the Lord Jesus Christ, the
honoring of God by all of these things, excluding all other supposed
and so-called gods and lords. Now, there can be but one God,
and one Lord Jesus Christ, but one authority to guide one, and
that is God, and guide them in the old path. And that is to
us the word of God, God's word first by the prophet, then by
the written and inspired scripture for the old paths and the old
way, recognize but one God, that is Yahweh, that is Jehovah, the
one who created the heaven and the earth and all things therein. And in the case of Israel, the
one who delivered them out of the bondage of Egypt and set
their feet in the old way or the old path. And yet this is
not to say that that the old way or the old path had its beginning
only after the Egyptian deliverance, only that it was more clearly
marked out then and more clearly defined by God. And as the footnote
in the New Geneva King James Version of the Bible said, the
old path is a figure describing the traditional religious life
of the Israelites from the time of Moses, unquote. And hence
the exhortation, ask for the old paths, which your fathers
walked in, which is the good way, and you walk in that path
as well. And then note the promise also
that is attached to it in the verse that we read. You will
find rest under your soul. They would be blessed, blessed
of God, because it was the good way. It was the right way. It
would result in rest of soul and peace with God. There is
no true peace of soul apart from God, His truth, and His way. For God may for a time tolerate
disobedience, heresy, but He will never approve of it or bless
them that practice such, and will and must bring them into
judgment at His own good time. Now there are blessings attached
to the spiritual worship of God and the rest of soul which comes
with that fellowship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And now what of their response
to the exhortation of the prophet when he says to them, ask for
the old way and walk therein. Look at the end of verse 16.
We notice now their response. Did they say like that one Pharisee
in the New Testament? Oh yes, we will go. And they
went no. No, they impudently bowed their
neck and stiffened their heart and they said to the prophet,
we will not walk therein. We're not going to do it. We're
not going to go back to those old ways. We're not going to
seek them out or to keep them. They were not in the least convicted
by it. They were not in any wise reformed
by the prophet's words. They obstinately said, we will
not. Do not speak to us of the old
way. We are done with them. We will
not walk in them. And they dug in and they stiffened
their necks and they made open opposition to the prophet's word. Strange, they once returned strains
that they once wanted to return to the bondage that they had
left in the land of Egypt. But now they refused the old
paths wherein they had most blessed freedom and access unto God. We notice the prophet uses another
simile here in our text in Jeremiah, and to set forth basically the
same word or the same truth. That's in verse 17 of Jeremiah
chapter 6. Also, I set watchmen over you, saying,
Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken. Not only did we send a prophet,
they said, We won't listen. I have given watchmen, and they
said, We will not hearken. Now we often read, particularly
in the Old Testament, of a watchman in the scripture who watched
from a wall around the city or perhaps a tower was built into
which he would climb and he'd watch out from that tower or
that wall over a city, sometime over a vineyard, to watch for
an approaching enemy or varmints that might come and spoil the
vine, and he would sound a trumpet, he would sound an alarm, and
he would warn the people of an approaching problem or an approaching
danger. An example, Isaiah 21 and 11,
the question, watchman, watchman, what of the night? That is how
do things go? What is the state what of the
night? Oh watchman, you can see it again
in Isaiah 62 and verse 6 now the prophets were as Watchmen
for the people warning the people of God's impending judgment for
their disobedient you can see that in Hebrews chapter 13 and
verse 7 the statement they watch and for your soul. That is, the leaders do, the
overseer of God's churches, they watch for your soul, and they
must give an account unto God. Hence, God sent watchmen over
them to sound the warning, to blast out the trumpet that danger
is at hand. And if you consider Isaiah chapter
58, verse 1, cry aloud, spare not Lift up thy voice like a
trumpet, and show my people their transgression." And the true
watchman did that. The true watchman of God did
that. They warned the people. They
preached nothing but the truth of God. And yet in our text,
The response of the people was, we will not do it, we will not
hearken, we will not listen, we will not give heed unto this. And they stopped their ears at
the word of God like that deaf hatter described in Psalm chapter
58 and verse 4. We will not, who would not hearken
to the voice of the charmer, charming ever so wisely. Now, it is a sad state indeed,
when a sinner is so set in their own way of sin, that as George
Swinnock once wrote of them, that they are deaf to all that
would give them good counsel. They stop their ears at all good
advice, even to be deaf to the thunder of Sinai, the word of
the gospel, and the conviction of their very own conscience.
telling them that they fall short of the glory of God and yet stopping
their ear. How quick are they to approve
heresy. How quick are they to embrace
a lie. How blind they are unto the truth
of God and to hear the word of the Lord. Now the matter is further
made worse by the fact that when some watchmen were incompetent
and slothful in the work of their duty. In Isaiah 56, 10 and 11,
it says there, his watchmen are blind, they are ignorant, they
are dumb dogs, They cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving
to slumber, greedy dogs that can never have enough, and shepherds
that cannot understand. What a plight to have a people
over them like that. But in their blindness and in
their stubborn rebellion, the people bear with them and tolerate
them. for they have itching ears to
hear what is pleasing, and their ministers tell the people what
they want to hear because they are men-pleasers. And they preach
peace, peace, when there is no peace, Jeremiah said. They assure
all of the love of God, and they neglect to mention the wrath
of God. You ever notice in our day you
hear little of the wrath of God and of the eternal torments of
hell? It's all about the love of God in our day from the pulpit. Now again, we hear the prophet's
counsel. Ask for the old paths. Ask after them and walk in them. Now the oldest of all ways, of
all ways. And the path first trodden is
the way of God. Let's make the point from this
standpoint. The first worship ever in the
world, and I emphasize that, the first worship ever in the
world was initiated by God, and it was the worship of God. And we mean Jehovah. We mean
Elohim, we mean Him who is El Shaddai, the God of heaven and
of earth, and the maker and sovereign over all things. Now all other
gods that have come along later are but cheap imitation, only
imagined deity, and the worship of any other than Jehovah is
an aberration and a deviation, for there is no God but one. Do you realize this was the view
and the creed and the code of Israel? Hear, O Israel, the Lord
our God is one. Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse
4, no God beside me is what God said unto them. And this is also
the view of Christianity. One God Jehovah, one Lord Jesus
Christ. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians
chapter 8 and verse 6, to us there is one God who made all
things and one Lord Jesus Christ. One God, one Savior, one way. This is the first and is the
old way. It is the old path. Oh, that
some would ask for and walk in the old path of free grace. Oh, that people would yearn for
the pathway of the free grace of God again. The Puritan preacher
Thomas Manton wrote, free grace is no novel doctrine, unquote. It's not a thing new. It's been
from the beginning. It is the old course which God
has always taken for the saving of soul, said the wise Puritan
man. From the first, Noah found grace
in the eyes of God. Justification by free grace that's
the old way, that's the old path. Atonement by the blood of a God-provided
sacrifice, that's the old way. Acknowledging the sovereignty
of God over all things is the old way. Walking in the fear
of God is the old way. Declaring the inerrancy of God's
Word that it is without mixture of error is the old way. And yes, Owning the depravity
of the race is the old way, for mankind fell in Adam in the garden. But the old way is not the popular
way. The old way is straight, S-T-R-A-I-T,
and according to Christ, it is narrowed, and according to Christ,
it is entered into by few. You have that in Matthew 7, verse
13. Now that passage in Matthew 7
and following begins the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount. Our
Lord brings the Sermon on the Mount to a conclusion by those
powerful words that are there. That straight is the gate and
narrow. And this picture's in our mind
a stricture, stricture. like a small space between two
boulders that is entered in narrowly. A stricture, and this note, we
do not date the old paths from the Reformation, as some are
wont to do in our day, though I understand their point. For
it was a partial return unto the old way that occurred in
the day of the Reformation. But in the text, two words are
used. Let's look at them again. The
word ways, plural, and the word path, singular. Now, a man's
way is the manner of his life or living. A man's way is how
he lives his life, what he does and what he is. A path, on the
other hand, is a trail or a walking lane that many have trodden down. As respects the Jew, therefore,
the old paths were the ways given the fathers that they might worship
God, what one called, and I quote, their whole way of the worship
of God centered around the temple in Jerusalem, unquote. From this they had departed,
and were departed, many of them had partially and some completely
and some for good. So the old path to them was that
way of worship given through Moses, established for them,
and centered about the temple, the priest, and the sacrifices. All of that a picture of Christ
that was to come. Now let's get more modern. In
our day, or many who have tried the old paths, if told of the
things of God, they are again as adamant as the Jew. We will not walk in such a way. We're not interested in it. In
fact, we despise it and we hate it. We will go our own way. We will be the master of our
own faith. We will not be bothered by the
troubles of religion. Religion is only, they say, for
the weak-minded and for little old ladies and little old men.
We're too enlightened. for such nonsense in our day. With all of our advancement and
all of our culture, we are too advanced for this old way of
bloody religion set out in the Scripture. Then let's look at
the churches. How far are they departed from
the way of the Lord, from the way of the early churches, and
from the way of the Scripture? Churches today and people today
seem to itch for novel or new ideas and new ways to what they
call, quote, reach the unchurched. Unquote to make Christianity
fun and exciting I'm getting where I want to regurgitate when
I hear that word Connected to church and worship exciting.
Oh, it's exciting to be here. It's exciting to go to this church
They know the masses you see will not tolerate biblical preaching. They know that they know the
masses will not tolerate biblical preaching they won't fun and
excitement So they cheerlead and they entertain the people
with silly little musical ditties and humor and such things as
that. They know the people will not
hear the doctrine of the depravity of man and of the wrath of God,
so they preach a God of love and of tolerance, who wants to
do well by everyone. and they preach that man is basically
good and that he just needs a little nudge and a little bit of help
to understand and reach out to him and therefore he will be
on his way as a worshipper of God and has come a new phenomenon
in our day, the megachurch. In our day, the megachurch, where
20,000 members take turns attending on Sunday. And it has no doctrine,
for that's offensive. It has no systematic theology. It's happy hour. for those people
who go and attend. They won't hear that man is depraved,
they won't hear that God is so holy that one would look upon
him and die, and they won't hear of the sovereignty of God, and
they won't hear of the great doctrines of the Bible. And then
again, I want to make this application in drawing our study to a close
today, not only the preachers, not only the people, not only
the churches, but how sad it is to see how far our country
has departed from its old paths in the days gone by. founded
as a republic based upon much Christian influence. We have
degenerated from that to go through various stages democratic socialism. Till now, I think we have an
elected dictatorship. How sad to see what our country
has become, where every evil is welcome and is called good,
where good is called evil. Every religion is welcomed as
good. And you know, some Christian
beliefs have actually been criminalized by our government. There are
some things that the Bible teaches us that have been criminalized
by our governor. And I look up out on that. I'm
an old codger. I'm an old codger, you know.
And I look up out on that, and I could cry when I could see
what my America has become, where God is not honored. Every wickedness imaginable can
and will flourish. And yet the attitude is the same
as that of Israel of old. No, we will not walk in these
old ways. The result, my brother and sister,
will be moral decay. and the withdrawal of the blessings
of God from that people who stubbornly bow their neck and say, we will
not walk in the way of God. Now, let's close with this. As
with many things, these, that is our text, is written for our
admonition. These things are written for
our learning. And we should not forsake the
old way. We should not forsake the old
paths that God has set before his people and has commanded
them, this is the way, walk ye therein. Ask for the old paths
and find them and walk therein. All the newfangled stuff that
has invaded the churches in our lifetime, no doubt is repugnant
to our just and holy God. All of the irreverence that passes
for worship of God in our day, all the irreverence. that passes
for the worship of God in our day must be sickening unto him. Ask for the old path, walk therein,
for therein there are few travelers, there are fewer there, but it
is the good way. It is the way that leads unto
the right end. It is the way that ends in life. Before you I've set these ways. Choose death, choose life, choose
that which is good.