Turn with me, please, to Jeremiah
chapter 6. Jeremiah chapter 6. Have you ever left home taking
a trip to some far-off place and gotten lost along the way?
It's happened to me many times. You get into a large city And
the more you drive around, the more confused you become. You
keep on thinking, well, this has got to be the right way.
I don't need to stop. I don't need to ask for any directions.
I can make it on my own. And so you keep driving. Now,
you ladies wouldn't do that, but men are a little bullheaded,
you know. Just keep on driving. Just keep on driving. But in
the end, frustrated, helpless, and lost, you got to stop. You got to find somebody who
knows where you are and knows the way to get to where you're
going, and you've got to ask for directions. It may be that
you were lost because you got started on the wrong road in
the beginning. It may be that you got lost because
someone gave you bad directions. Whatever the reason, you lost. You were lost and somebody had
to show you the way. Now that's the picture before
us in our text. We have all turned aside to our
own way. We have all by nature gone astray
from God, from our mother's womb, and we're lost. We are blind,
groping about in the darkness with no sense of direction whatever. We turn to our religious leaders
thinking surely they will help us, but they're as lost as everybody
else. They're as blind as we are, and
blind leading the blind will cause both to fall into the ditch.
The blind religious leaders of our day, like those of Jeremiah's
day, prophesy for gain. They preach for covetousness.
They labor as they do because they want to get what they can
from you. They preach as they do because
they desire to get what you possess and make themselves rich. And
therefore, they prophesy smooth things. Therefore, they tell
men what men want to hear. And the Lord says, they have
healed the hurt of my people slightly, saying, peace, peace,
when there is no peace. They say to the sinner, do this
and you shall have peace. Do that and you shall have peace.
Do the other thing, God will give you peace. And they proclaim
peace when God has given no peace. Now if you're interested in your
soul, if you're not in too big a hurry to go to hell, you'll
be wise to turn aside from all the religious confusion of our
day and hear this word from the Lord God. Jeremiah 6 and verse
16. Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye
in the ways. You've come to the crossroads.
Stand right here. Stand ye in the ways, and seek,
and ask for the old paths. Where is the good way? And walk
therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. Those are the words of God to
you. You're at the crossroads. One
way looks good. It appears good. It's the well-paved
way in which most people walk. It's the way most appealing to
the flesh, most reasonable to men. It seems right, but it's
the way that leads to destruction. eternal misery and eternal damnation
in hell. There's another way. It is a
way that's altogether contrary to the flesh. It's a rough way. It's a difficult way. It is not
an easy way to walk in. There are hills and valleys.
There are rocks and there are barriers in the way. But this
is the way that leads to life everlasting. This is the way
to eternal glory. This is the way which will bring
you to God himself accepted in the beloved for eternity. It's
the way that leads to life in eternal glory. Now don't be so
foolish as to be blindly led by blind men in destruction. And don't be so proudly presumptuous
as to suppose that you can find the way on your own. But rather
do as God says, stand. See and ask you don't have to
be in a big hurry. You don't have to get in in a
hurry you just stay Stand and look look around you and ask
where is the old? Where is the good way the good
way wherein I can find rest for my soul? In this generation everybody
wants to get the center to do something Every preacher in this
town this morning will be calling on sinners to do something. Do
something quick. Do something now. And once you
start to do something, they'll keep you busy giving you something
to do every day of the week, lest you possibly stop and think
about what you're doing. The servants of God, on the other
hand, say to sinners, stand still. Just stop what you're doing.
Stop doing anything. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. Take down the Word of God. Search
out the old paths, the paths in which the patriarchs, prophets,
apostles, and saints of old walked. Ask the Lord God to show you
the footsteps of the flock where is the good way, and give you
grace that you may walk therein. And the Lord God promises, that
if you will stand in the ways, and see, and ask for the old
paths where is the good way, ye shall find rest for your souls. The old paths of gospel truth
shut sinners up to good, the good way, that way which is Christ
Jesus alone. And all who walk in this good
way find rest for their souls. Now I want to Give you four parts
to the messages this morning, four points, if you're taking
notes. To begin, I want to show you that only the old paths of
gospel truth will shut sinners up to Christ alone. The Lord
says, ask for the old paths, and he tells us why we must do
so. It is because these old paths will bring you to the good way.
The old past, where is the good way? The good way of life everlasting. Now antiquity, age is not a certain
test and proof of infallibility. Just because something is old
does not mean that it's good. Just because some doctrine is
old does not mean that it's true. But you can be sure of this,
anything new is false. Any new doctrine is false doctrine. Any new creed is a false creed. Any new development in the understanding
of divine truth is a false development in the understanding of divine
truth. That which is true is very old. It is as old as the
scriptures themselves. It doesn't matter what men are
discussing. In spiritual matters, we want
no new opinion. No new ideas, no new theories. We're content with old things. We prefer that which is old.
The same old paths in which all believers have walked in all
the ages of God's church upon this earth. If we would go to
heaven, we're going to have to walk in these old paths, these
proven paths. Turn over to the book of 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles chapter 34. Let
me give you an illustration of what I'm talking about. It's
difficult to find the old paths. It's difficult to find the paths
in which God's people have always walked. It's difficult to find
the paths in which there is life and light of salvation. In 2
Chronicles 34, this priest was cleaning out the temple in Josiah's
days. There was great reform in Israel
and the worship of God was being re-established. Oh, they still
had the temple of God and they still worshiped the Lord Jehovah,
but they brought into the temple of God and they brought into
the worship of God all the old pagan customs, traditions, and
systems of religion that all of the heathen around them employed. And so Josiah comes and he says,
we're going to worship God as God said worship Him. We're going
to worship God according to truth. And Hilkiah the priest was in
cleaning out the temple. And look at verse 14. And when
they brought out the money that was brought into the house of
the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found a book. What's this? What is this? I found the book. It's the book of the law of the
Lord given by Moses. All covered over with dust. Here's the book of God. I wonder
what it says. Let's see what it says. And he opened it up. He delivered
the book to Shaphan. In verse 15, Hilkiah answered
and said to Shaphan, the scribe, I have found the book of the
law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah delivered the book
to Shaphan. That's what's got to happen in
our day. That's what I'm endeavoring to do as I travel around the
country preaching the gospel of God's grace, especially going
into these churches that have been established and been around
for years. I'm simply going in and dusting
off the book and saying, look here, people of God. This is
the way, there is no other. This is the book of God, there
is no other. You will walk in these old paths
or you will perish in your sins. That's what happened back in
Hilkiah's day and that's what must happen in our day. The Reformers
and the great Protestant Reformation. After a thousand years of papal
darkness, of papal ignorance and papal superstition, after
a thousand years of papacy will worship, the Reformers sought
to restore the worship of God by bringing men back to the old
paths. We have churches all over this
city, all over this stayed all over this country, indeed all
over the world. Churches that were established
and born out of the Protestant Reformation. And those churches
today, if their founders were to stand in the pulpit and preach
what they preached in their pulpits, those fellows would be kicked
out of the churches they founded. They'd be kicked out of them.
There's not a Southern Baptist church in this country. There's
not a Southern Baptist church in this country that would tolerate
the preaching of Jesus. JP Boyce and he was the founder
of Southern Seminary in Louisville They're not a Presbyterian Church
in this city that would tolerate the preaching of John Calvin
and he started Presbyterian Church They're not a Lutheran Church
in this country that I'm aware of that would tolerate the preaching
of Martin Luther and he started the church I'm saying we must
return to the foundation principles of gospel truth if there's any
hope for men in this generation and Luther, Calvin, Knox, Zwingli,
and others insisted upon three cardinal truths, which became
the threefold cry of the Reformation. So that wherever men and women
were found worshiping God, these three truths were paramount.
And wherever these three paths of truth were followed, papacy
fell, and sinners were converted by the grace of God. To this
day, whenever these old paths are clearly set forth, The good
way of life in Christ is known. But what are they? First principle cry of the reformers
was scripture alone. Scripture alone. Oh God, give
this word to this generation. Scripture alone. There's no room for anything
else in the Church of God. No room. We have no interest
in the creeds of men. We have no interest in the opinions
of men. We have no interest in the church
confessions and the church covenants and the church traditions. We
want to know what says God in His Word. Nothing more. Nothing more. All Scripture is
given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly
furnished, prepared unto all good works. The only authority
for anything we do, the only authority for anything we believe,
must be the plainly revealed, plainly written Word of the Living
God. Now, I hope that's clear to everybody
in this house of worship. I believe it is. We insist upon
it. We stress it. Why don't we have
Christmas plays and Easter Bunny plays and ceremonies and rituals
and ball teams and entertainment and recitals and all of the silly
mess that goes on in the name of God. All the silly mess. Churches around town have dances
for the young people and they have bingo parties for the old
folks and they have this and they have that. All of that's
just so much rubbish. So much rubbish. One of the men in Brother Jim
Byrd's congregation in Rocky Mount was invited to attend a
local church. He was telling us about the other
night. Brother Boyer's. He was invited to attend a local
church there in Rocky Mount, Virginia. He's a plant manager. Brother Boyer is. And this fella
invited him to their big social club church, you know. And the
fella said to him, he said, I tell you what, I like to look at our
church as a social club. And Brother Bowyer said, well,
I'm sure it is. I'm sure it is. Most of them
are. Most of them are. Cheapest membership
in a country club there is in the world is being a member of
a Baptist church. Easier to get in, harder to get
out of than anything in the world. And they ought, most of them,
to be burned to the ground. Ought never to exist. never to
exist. There's nothing but entertaining
men on the road to hell and paying a preacher a salary, keeping
up in a nice house and a nice car and nice clothes so he can
pat you on the back and tell you how good you are on your
way to hell. Now I'm telling you, we've got
to return to the Word of God alone. It's time that somebody
would stand up on his hind legs and declare the truth of God
as it is only in the Word of God. I defy the preachers of
this town. I hope any of them who hear this
message will hear it well. I defy the preachers of this
town to simply read and expound Ephesians 1, Romans chapter 9,
Romans chapter 8. I defy you to do it. Why? Because they will not hearken
to the word of God. They preach their opinions and
their little pet doctrines and their little customs and their
little traditions. There's no room in the Church of God for
any doctrine but what God has written. No room for any practice
but what God has given. No room for doing anything except
the way God describes it. Folks say we split hairs over
the way we administer baptism. I read a sermon yesterday by
a fella. He said, now we don't want to
be too insistent about the mode of baptism. To insist that my
soul ain't but one way to bury a fella, you cover him up. There's no other way. The number
one way to perform baptism, you bury folks in water. It's the
confession of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. That
just makes good sense, Bob, unless you've been blinded by false
religion. Somebody says, well, you fellas are a little too strict
about the Lord's Supper. You don't have to use wine and
unleavened bread. You don't have to use wine and
unleavened bread. And I've heard every excuse under
the sun for not using it. I've heard every excuse under
the sun. There ain't but one excuse, and that's refusal to
bow to the word of God. That's all. That's all. Somebody
says, well, you just can't do things like that in this generation.
Yes, you can. The Church of God can dare obey the living God
regardless. Regardless. And if doing things
God's way won't get the job done, brother, let's close up shop
and go home. Let's not play this game of religion. The Scriptures
alone. And the Scriptures alone declare
grace alone. That's the second cry of the
Reformation. Grace alone. No, works have nothing to do
with salvation. No, works have nothing to do
with God's choice of whom He will save. No, good works has
absolutely nothing to do with God's love and favor. No, good
works has nothing to do with getting to heaven. Grace alone,
by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. You know what it is to be saved,
girl? That's to be in Christ. That's
to be in Christ. You can't get in there with a
hammer and a toothpick, that's false. You can't get into Him
with the works of your own hands. You remember when the temple
was being built? God gave strict orders. There wouldn't be the
sound of a hammer, a chisel, a saw in that place. Everything
be done outside the temple and brought in. And there was a picture
there. The whole work of redemption,
the whole work of salvation, the whole work of eternal life
is accomplished outside us by the hand of God and bestowed
upon us freely by His grace. Everything, everything. But preacher,
you've got to give folks something to do. No, Arminian, you've got
to give folks something to do. I ain't got to give them a thing
to do. Well, you've got to get them to walk down an aisle, make
a decision. Somehow or another, I believe
a baboon unless he was deluded by false religion, would have
enough sense to understand that getting in Christ was not by
decision. I just think a baboon got better
sense than that. But preachers, you come up and
make your little decision, you get into Christ, you get saved,
you exercise your free will and that's how you get saved. No,
it's by grace alone. By grace alone. Oh, we believe
in grace alone, but you got to do this. Well, you don't believe
in grace alone. We believe in grace alone, but it's up to the
Senate. You don't believe in grace alone.
We believe in grace alone, but man's got to walk in righteousness. You don't believe grace alone.
We believe in grace alone, but a man's got to be faithful to
the church. You don't believe in grace alone. I said grace alone. No, God said grace alone. He
said it's of grace and it's no more of works. If it's of grace,
works can't have any part. If it's of works, grace has no
part. Romans chapter 11 and verse 6. And the third cry of the Reformation
is faith alone. Turn over there and look at Galatians
chapters 2. Or just jot it down and listen to me as I read. I'm
there. Galatians chapter 2 and verse 16. We know that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ,
that is, by the faithful obedience of Christ. Even we have believed
in Jesus, that's our faith, that we might be justified by the
faithful obedience of Christ, not by the works of the law,
for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. We believe
according to God's word the message of scripture alone. We believe
according to God's word salvation by grace alone. And we believe
according to God's word that sinners receive that salvation
by faith alone. We receive it by faith. The Lord
God has accomplished redemption in his son. By faith we receive
it. The Lord God has accomplished
righteousness in His Son, by faith we receive it. The Lord
God has accomplished pardon in His Son, by faith we receive
it. Now, the righteousness, the redemption,
and the pardon was accomplished long before we believed, but
we received it by faith. Do you see that? Our faith doesn't
have anything to do with the accomplishment of salvation.
Our faith is simply the gift of God by which we receive God's
salvation, which Christ has accomplished. Today, we must once again lay
down the foundations, the old foundations, and clear out the
old paths so that sinners may know the way of life. This task
of clearing out the old paths is a constant work for every
gospel preacher. Never comes a time when we quit
clearing out the old paths and clearing up the old way. The
Lord God says to his prophet, go through, go through the gates,
prepare ye the way of the people, cast up, cast up the highway,
gather out the stones, lift up the standard for the people.
That's our responsibility. In the Old Testament, you'll
remember those cities of refuge, or whether six cities of refuge. And there was a path, a road, going
to those cities from anywhere in Israel so that the manslayer
could get to one of those cities. And the people of that city,
the citizens of that city, had the responsibility year after
year of going through and preparing the road, making sure that all
of the washed out places were free. making sure that any hills
were level, making sure that all the rocks and the debris
and the trash and the trees that had fallen across the road were
cleared out so that that poor guilty manslayer might run without
any obstacle in his way to the city of refuge. And that's what
we've got to do. Somehow the Church of God has
got to clear out the way. Clear out the old paths and clear
out the stones that Satan and ministers of Satan cast in the
way so that you may flee to Christ with nothing to hinder you, with
no obstacle in your way. When Nehemiah was about to rebuild
the walls of Jerusalem, or when Nehemiah chapter 4 He came and they were going to
rebuild those city walls. First thing he had to do before
he built those walls is get all the rubbish out of the way. You
can read it in Nehemiah 14. Why the pagans had come and thrown
rubbish in. They had used it for a dumping
ground for all their trash. And the church of Jesus Christ
in this day has been used for a dumping ground for the religious
trash of men. And it's our responsibility to
get it out of the way. Get it out of the way. What do
you mean, rubbish? Are you saying that the religion
of our day is rubbish? I'd say more than that if I wasn't
speaking publicly. Just manure is all it is. And
that's what God calls it. We read Tuesday night, I believe
it was, where God spoke of their manure idols. Manure idols. That's what God thinks of the
religion of this age. That's what I think of it, Darwin.
What are you talking about? Rubbish. The rubbish in the churches
of our day, I can't begin to name it all. But I'll tell you
there's certain things. There's certain things which
if they're believed and looked upon and received by men, will
effectually bar the door and keep sinners from Christ. It's
absolutely impossible for a sinner to get to Christ who believes
the present day doctrine of free willism. It's absolutely impossible. You cannot get to Christ believing
that your free will brings you to Christ. You cannot get to
Christ believing the modern doctrine of decisionism. Believing that
coming to Christ is nothing but a decision you make for Jesus.
Believing that salvation is up to you and not up to God. The
teaching of legalism, it's been around for a long time. But I'm
telling you that no sinner will ever come to Christ until that
pile of rubbish is taken out of the way. As long as you suppose
that your works will merit God's favor, you will not and you cannot
come to Christ. Ceremonialism. Emotionalism. All of these things just rubbish.
Shelby and I were watching this morning. on a TV broadcast, just
happened to be a Pentecostal group. She made this statement,
she said, lots of Baptists do that, don't they? Yeah, they
do. You ever notice how they come
into church and get folks worked up? Oh, glory, glory, that was
good, good, good. And get them singing, and clapping
their hands, and swaying back and forth, and feeling good.
Say, boy, the Spirit of God's with us today. You keep folks
from seeking the Spirit of God that way. That's all. That's all. Modern religion has
thoroughly obstructed the old paths. For love of money, for
security of position, for desire of approval, the preachers of
this age have spoken peace when there is no peace. Folks have
got cancer and they're passing out Band-Aids. Folks are dying
with heart disease and they're passing out patches to put over
their eyes. They proclaim to sinners that
their way is God's way. They proclaim to sinners that
the way of human opinion and human feeling and human thought
is God's way. It's not so. Salvation is not
by your will, it's by God's will. The old paths of gospel truth
must be plainly set forth. What are they, Donald? I'll tell
you one old path. He's been laid down firm. And
that is the path of divine sovereignty. You mean, preacher, you've got
to believe in divine sovereignty to get to heaven? Yeah. Yeah, I mean that. I don't hesitate to say that.
We believe in God, and God is sovereign. That just makes sense,
doesn't it, Bob? God is sovereign. God is sovereign. He's not a helpless little old
mamby-pamby sissy sitting up in heaven, hoping maybe you'll
let him have his way. No, that's the kind of preachers
there are in this age, but not the God of glory. The God of
glory is sovereign. Sovereign over everything. Read
Romans chapter 9. Not of him that willeth, nor
of him that runneth, but of God the show of mercy. If it pleases
God to do so, he can take of the same lump, make one vessel
to honor and another to dishonor. And the lump of clay has no right
to say to him, What are you doing with me? No right whatsoever. I hear folks, I preach this message. I've been preaching it for a
long time. And everywhere I go preaching, if somebody comes
up and says, but preacher, that's not right. Well, who are you to tell God
what's right? Huh? Who are you to determine
what's right for God to do with his own creatures? Shoot, I don't even like the
government telling me what I have to do with my own property, do
you? Somebody come along and say, well, you, David Coleman's
got a bidget, you got to hire this fellow, you can't hire that
one. Got to do this, you can't do that. David's not like I am. If it was me, I'd be... I'd be
giving that fellow a cussing every time he came around under
my breath. I wouldn't do it out loud, but under my breath, I'd
just, oh, I'd get him down the road. That's my business. I work
for it. You get your hands off of it. Now you think that God
Almighty is going to submit himself to your fickle, sinful, free
will and say, now this is what I want, but you know, it wouldn't
be right for me to do it. Well, it just wouldn't be right
for me to do what I want to with you. Just because I made you,
just because I've fed you and clothed you and give you air
and sustain you in life and you rebel against me, it's not right
for me to do what I want to with you. Why, that's silly. That's silly. Yes, one of the
old paths of divine truth is God's total, absolute sovereignty. He has mercy on whom he will
have mercy and whom he will he harden. Another of those paths
by which sinners must be shut up to Christ is human inability. Now, folks, in hymn and hall,
and they try to get out of it, I'm here to tell you, hear me,
no, not me, hear the Son of God. This is what Jesus Christ says
to you. Hear me. You can not come to
me. That's what he said, John 6,
verse 44. A preacher, what are you doing? You're telling men
they can't come to Christ? Somebody's got to tell them the
truth. No, you can't come to Christ. Saying a prayer won't
do it. Walking an aisle won't do it.
Coming down in front of the church won't do it. Shaking the preacher's
hand won't do it. Having a little experience won't
do it. You can't come to Christ. He's got to come to you. He's
got to come to you. And if he comes to you, He will
effectually cause you to come to Him. One of those paths of divine
truth by which we shut men up to Christ alone is accomplished
substitutionary redemption. Our Lord cried, it's finished.
That means justice was satisfied. That means the people for whom
he died are redeemed. That means the sins for which
he suffered had been put away. It's finished. It's finished. Why are we so insistent on declaring
particular redemption, limited atonement, effectual redemption? Why is it that we are so insistent
in declaring that Jesus Christ did not die for folks who perish
in hell? Because the glory of God and
the souls of men are at stake. That's why. That's why. Either
Jesus Christ finished His work, or He's not God, and if you trust
one who's not God, you're yet in your sin. Either Christ finished
His work of redemption, or there's still something for you to do
by which sin can be put away, and you can't do it, we're all
going to hell. Either Jesus Christ finished His work of redemption,
or He's found a false witness of God, and I'm a false witness
of God. I don't believe in limited or
tumbleable. You better quit listening to me. Because there's a limit
to the atonement ain't so, I'm a false prophet. And if it is
so, everybody else is false prophet. That's right. That's right. So a preacher, that just draws
a line too straight. Oh, good to God, somebody would
see. We've got to draw a straight
line. This is the old path. You'll
walk in this path or you'll perish in your sins. Those old paths. Include this
matter of imputed righteousness. Imputed righteousness. That's
righteousness bestowed freely by the grace of God through the
legal transaction that took place at Calvary. That is, God declaring
us to be righteous apart from anything we do. That is God declaring
us to be righteous only by the works of Jesus Christ the Lord.
That is God declaring us to be righteous exactly as He declared
His Son to be sin. We're made righteous by imputation
and effectual grace. Effectual grace. That just means God does what
tribes do. That means when God puts His
hands in work, He accomplishes the work. There's not anything
bad about that, is there? What could there possibly be
that would cause men to be upset with declaring that God's people
shall be good instead of our children? What could possibly
be wrong in man's opinion with a priest who declares plainly,
blessed is the man whom God chooses. and causes to approach him to
him. I'll tell you, the only person who ever gets upset with
that, are you listening? The only person who doesn't like
that is a man who hates God. Is that right, Linda? It's only one, only one. Man who hates God, he says, no,
sir, I'll do the deciding. I'll make up my mind. I'll be
my own God. I'll have my own way. God's got
no right to do that. That's the only man who hates
God's effectual grace. The man who hates God. And if
I happen to find one, I'm going to do my best either to bring
out the hatred in him or cause him to bow to Christ. One of
the two. I'm going to keep probing and probing and probing and preaching
and preaching and preaching. You're either going to bow to
it or you're going to get out. One of the two. We're going to find
out who you belong to right quick. Yes, we believe these things
and we preach these things without the least hesitation. Because
these old paths of this divine gospel truth shut sinners up
to God's sovereign mercy in Christ. Nothing else will. No sinner
will ever come to Christ until he has to come to Christ. No
sinner will ever come to Christ and seek grace until he has no
other alternative. No sinner will ever seek God's
mercy in Christ until he has nothing else to do. No sinner
will ever come to God pleading for free, sovereign mercy, everlasting
grace until he has no other plea to offer. Nobody will. As long as you've got one prop
to lean on, you're going to lean on it. As long as you've got
one refuge to hide in, you'll hide in it. As long as you've
got one fig leaf by which to make yourself accepted to God,
you're going to hold that fig leaf up. You will not come to
Christ until you've got nowhere else to go. That was the case
with that leper. Couldn't nobody else help him.
But he came and ran and fell down at Christ's feet and worshipped
him and he said, Lord, If you will, you can make me whole.
That's the way it was with that woman who had the issue of blood
for 12 years. She had crawled around bent over
with no strength, and she spent everything she had on positions
of no value. And she heard of him, and she
said, I can touch the hem of his garment. Oh, if I could just touch the
hem of his garment, who is vile, I'd be made whole. And she came
behind in the press, Touched it, and she was made whole that
day. That publican came into the temple. The Pharisee, he had, he had
a good life. He could lean on that. He had
good deeds, he could lean on those. He'd been a good old boy
from his youth up. And so when he prayed, he prayed
with himself. He prayed with himself. You know, I won't yield to temptation,
but go unto the public. That publican would not even
lift up his eyes toward heaven. But he smote on his breast. He
said, while he's beating his own heart, the source of his
corruption, With no hope, with no strength, with nothing to
plea, with no goodness, nothing but sin. He said, God be merciful
to me, the sinner. Mark, that's the only way a sinner
will ever come to Christ. No other way. No other way. David
Brainerd, that missionary to the American Indians, who was
so mightily used of God. He said, I saw four things. which aggravated my heart and
stirred up enmity against God in me. But those four things
eventually brought me to faith in Jesus Christ. He said, I saw
the utter severity and strict justice of God's holy law. God
requires righteousness, and I can't get it. God must punish sin,
and I'm a sinner. He said, I saw that faith alone
is the condition of salvation. Yes, it is. Faith alone is the
condition of salvation. If you believe, if right now
where you sit, you believe Christ, you're saved. Faith is the condition
of salvation. Nothing you do, faith. Nothing
you experience, faith. Faith alone. And then he said,
I saw that faith is the gift of God. I can't believe unless God gives
me faith." And he said, that raised my heart's rebellion against
God. But then I saw that God Almighty
is absolutely sovereign. I saw that He could give me faith
or withhold faith. He could save me or damn me. He could be merciful to me or
not be merciful to me. It's all together up to Him.
And he said, this drove my heart into utter despair and raved
my rebellion against God Almighty, but at last it drove me to Christ
alone, and I pleased his name. Drove me to Christ. You see,
you've got no alternative. You've got nothing else to do.
There's nothing else you can do. You must go to Christ. You
must go to Christ. He's the only one who can save
you. He's the only one who can give you faith. He's the only
one who can give you life. He's the only one who can cleanse
you from your sins. He's the only one who can make
you accepted with God. It's my desire to destroy every
false refuge in which you may be hiding from God. To break
down every false hope. which deceives your soul, to
strip away every fig leaf of self-righteousness by which you
try to cover yourself. I want you stripped. I want you
naked. I want you helpless. I want you
utterly without hope before God Almighty. I want that for you. Because I know that when you're
brought down to absolute nothingness, then it may be that God will
show you the good way of life everlasting in Christ. This is
my second point. The good way which leads to life
eternal is faith in Christ. Let me be very brief, but listen
to this. In 1 John chapter 5, 1 John chapter 5 and verse 1. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ, Whosoever believeth that Jesus, the son of Joseph
and Mary, the carpenter's son, that Nazarene who was put to
death at Jerusalem, who was put to death by crucifixion, whosoever
believeth that this Jesus, this carpenter's son, is the Christ,
The Son of God, the promised Messiah, the Redeemer, the Savior,
the sinner's substitute, the one who brings in everlasting
righteousness, the one who accomplishes redemption by the appointment
of God. Whosoever believes that Jesus
is the Christ, I do. I do. He's born of God. That's what the book says. He's
born of God. Verse 10. He that believeth on
the Son hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave
of his Son. And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal
life. And this life is in his Son.
He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. The old paths are necessary. But it's not enough. simply to
know that God is sovereign and you're helpless. It's not enough
simply to know that Christ alone accomplished atonement, that
righteousness can be had only by divine imputation, and that
the Holy Spirit's grace in salvation is always effectual and irresistible. Not enough just know those things.
You've got to come to Christ. You've got to come to Christ.
You've got to trust Jesus Christ. Christ is the way. You must be
in Him, or you cannot come to the Father. Christ is the door. You must enter in by Him, or
you cannot be saved. Christ is the truth. You must
believe Him, or you can't know God. Christ is the life. You must have Him, or you cannot
live. Christ is the old way. There
never has been but one way of life and salvation, and Christ
is the way. Christ is the way by which all
the Old Testament sacrifices were offered. Those things pointed
to Him. Those things referred to Him.
They called men to look to Him. He is the way by which Abel came
to God. Christ is the way by which Enoch
walked with God. Christ is the way in which Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And Christ is the way in
which Abraham worshipped God. Christ is the old way and He's
the good way. He's the good shepherd, and he's the good way. He's the
way appointed by God. He's the way approved of by God
in his resurrection. He's the new and living way by
which we draw near unto God. He's the way by which all of
God's saints who ever lived walked to glory. Christ is the only
way. He's the only way of access to
God, the only way of acceptance with God, the only way of salvation,
grace, and eternal life from God. And he's the best way. If there'd been any other way,
He's still the best way. By Him, we see the justice of
God magnified in the grace of God. By Him, we see the mercy
of God magnified in the justice of God. By Him, we see love and
peace and mercy and truth. We see all the glory of God's
divine attributes set forth in the crucified Redeemer. Christ
is the good way, so let us ever walk in Him. This is the command
of God in our text. Ask for the old paths, where
is the good way? And walk therein. What does that
mean? How do we walk in this good way? Well, we live day by day, making our way up to neglected land that awaits
us. Us to the selection of city,
us to the throne of God. Looking to Christ. Looking to Christ. The troubles here,
don't pay attention to them, look to Him. The trials here,
don't pay attention to them, look to Him. The sins here, don't pay attention
to them, look to Him. But faith and glory, don't pay
attention to them, look to Christ. But there are temptations over
here and alarmists over here. Don't pay attention and look
to Christ. Look to Christ. That's what it is to walk in
the way. Just keep your eye on Him. Looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Submit to His rule. Submit to His rule as your Lord. And submit to His will in providence. That's what it is to walk in
the way. Oh, God give me a submissive
heart. A submissive heart. To walk in the way is to walk
in obedience to His commands and His ordinances. To walk in His way is to walk
in sweet communion with Him. But thirdly, there is one test
by which we may prove whether we're walking in the old paths
and the good way. One test. Paul says, prove all
things, hold fast to that which is good and abstain from all
appearance of evil. Well, how can we prove all doctrine?
How can we prove our faith? How can we know whether we are
walking in the old paths of truth and the good way of life? Our
text tells us, if you have it there, Jeremiah 6, 16, our text
tells us that if we walk in the old paths where is the good way,
you shall find rest for your souls. Our Lord Jesus said, take
my yoke upon you and learn of me and you shall find rest unto
your souls. Come unto me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon
you, and learn of me, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is
light, and you shall find rest for your souls." The law could
never give rest. Moses couldn't bring Israel into
Canaan, but Joshua could. Free willism can never give rest.
I challenge the Armenian free willer. I challenge him. Find some rest. Just try to find
some rest in your free will. I was talking to an old lady
yesterday, day before yesterday. Several years ago, God was pleased
to teach her the gospel. She's in the hospital, and Henry
and I went to see her. And she was telling us about, she used
to go to her husband, and she said, I told him, she's a country
lady, she said, I told him, I said, there's more in this Bible than
what we've been taught. She said, I got kind of fanatical. She said, after a while, my husband
said to me, he said, you're going to have to quit talking like
that. Folks are going to say you're an old predestinator. She said, that's
what they used to call us, old predestinator. And she said,
I got to thinking about that. She said, I don't care what they
call me as long as they don't call me an old freewheeler. Well,
there's no rest for old freewheelers. There's no rest in man's free
will. Try to find some. Try to find some. Try to find
some rest in your decisions. Try to find some rest in your
works. Try to find some rest in your prayers. Try to find
some rest in something you do. There's no rest in you. There's
rest only in the good way. Rest can never be found apart
from the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ,
the sinner's all-sufficient substitute. The rest which we find in Christ
is a good rest. Some folks say, well, you don't
want to give folks rest. You give them rest like that,
they'll become sinful and licentious and carnal. Oh, shoot. This is good rest. It brings
us satisfaction, but not self-satisfaction. It gives us safety, but never
presumption. It gives us contentment, but
not indifference. It removes all legal fear. We're
no longer afraid of God. We don't serve God for what we
can get. We don't serve God because we're afraid of what we're going
to get. But rather it supplies us with the motives of love and
gratitude and deep hearts of affection to our Savior. This
rest removes guilt and inspires gratitude. And this blessed rest
begins now and finds its consummation in eternity. Rest. Oh, the rest is past. Does anybody here wear the headgear
of sin? Anybody wear the headgear of
sin? Burdened down with guilt. Burdened down with a horrible
load of sin and guilt. Trust Christ, and you'll find
rest for your soul. Oh, what rest there is. There's
therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
Well, that's rest, brother. That's rest. No condemnation. You mean God doesn't hold me
guilty? Whoo! That's rest. That's rest. And then the rest comes by submission
to His will. The Lord says, take my yoke upon
me, and you shall find rest. That is, you, you willingly Bend
over, stoop down, and slip yourself into my yoke, and do my will
at the path of rest." Rest in obeying the Savior. And then
there remaineth a rest unto the people of God. There remains
a glorious Sabbath-keeping when we shall enter into His rest.
Let us therefore labor that we may enter into His rest and not
perish in unbelief. I send you home with one question
answer. Will you or will you not walk
in this way? Huh? Will you or will you not
walk in this way? I'm going to. I'm going to. I've been doing it. I'm going
to keep it up, guys. I'm going to walk in this way. There's no other
way but this. There's no other way but this. I've set before
you the old paths of gospel truth and the good way of life in Christ.
When Jeremiah had delivered this word from God, you know what
people said? You can read it. Verse 16, our
text. After he got done preaching, they said, we will not walk therein. And some of you saying the same
thing. No, no, we won't trust Christ. We won't bow to Christ. I will
not submit to the rule of Christ. Well, if that's your heart's
response, I say to you, go on to hell and nobody will pity
you. Nobody will pity you. That's
right. That's right. You despise the
rule of Jesus Christ and despise the gospel of his grace and you
say we will not walk in that way? Well, go on to hell. In the day of judgment you'll
hear what I've said and for eternity you'll lament the You'll lament
the fact you ever heard this message. How do you respond? May God graciously give you the
heart, the will, and the ability to walk in the good way of life by faith in Christ Jesus, our
Lord. There is but one way. Christ
is the way. Oh may God put you in the way,
give you life and faith in Him. Amen.