Sunday, May 1, PM

From Jeremiah chapter 6, verse 16. Okay, good. That's the one I'm going to do. We had a preview of it in 1 Kings chapter 8. Teach them the good way in which they should walk. I thought, ah, wow, an introduction to Jeremiah 6 .16.

Sometimes as I'm reading through the Bible, well, I come to a place and camp out a little bit, you know. It's just a little bit rich to just keep going, you know. You want to stick around a little bit and dig a little deeper and see what you can find.

Jeremiah 6 .16 was like that at one time. And thus says the Lord, stand by the roads and look, and ask for the ancient paths where the good way is, and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, we will not walk in it.

So who are the players here, and what is the message? Not to, yes, go ahead, what is it?

The Lord's talking.

Yes.

First of all, the players, the Lord, and they. And it is the Lord who speaks through his prophet Jeremiah. And this is what he says. And he says it to these people that are referenced here as they. Who are these people?

First of all, thus says the Lord. You'll notice it's all in caps, right? L-O-R-D, all caps. That's God's name. That's the name he gave Moses when Moses says, when they ask me who sent me, what shall I tell them?

Tell them I am sent you. And when you speak to Pharaoh, this is the name, OK? This is the name. And when he speaks to Pharaoh in this name, Moses says, let my people go. Now, Moses said that, but it was God's word.

That's who the they is here. My people, God's people. It's the name that he gave Moses. And it's the name that he came to these people whom he set his affections on. And he said to them, after he rescued them from Egypt, I will be your God.

Will you be my people? And they said, yes, we'll do everything you say. And Moses sprinkled blood on the people and ratified the covenant with God. Yahweh, that's the name here. These are the players.

Yahweh, the one that rescued them and made a covenant with them and his people. And the message, the message, stand by the roads and look and ask for the ancient paths where the good way is and walk in it and find rest for your souls.

It's a message of repentance. It's a message of repentance. Now, it doesn't say anything about repentance, but in the context, OK, it's speaking of repentance in the way that we walk, the path that we take, the lifestyle that we lead, the direction that we're going.

Because you see, repentance literally means a change of mind. I'm going in this direction, OK, and I'm going to change my mind and my life and turn and go in this direction. That's repentance. That's repentance.

Stand by the roads and look and ask for the ancient paths where the good way is and walk in it and find rest for your souls. You see, these people, they're going the wrong way. They're going the wrong way.

And God comes to them. Their God, the one who rescued them from Egypt, you know, his people, and he pleads with them, come back. You're going the wrong way. You're going the wrong way. You know, you need to stand by the roads and ask and look, OK, for the ancient paths where the good way is, where the good way is.

They're going the wrong way. You see, here, just back a few verses in chapter 5, verse 23, it says, but this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart. They have turned aside and gone astray, gone away.

They're going the wrong way. And God comes to them and pleads with them, turn back. Ask for the ancient paths. Now, you could tell, you know, he's disappointed in them. But by the same token, OK, by the same token, now, this is also what he says about his people.

In chapter 12, OK, he refers to them like this. I have forsaken my house. This is verse 7. I have abandoned my heritage. I have given the beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies. Now, you know, Michael preached through Jeremiah not too long ago.

So, you know exactly where they are here. They're going into exile. And God is still coming to them and pleading with them, come back, turn, repent. He hasn't given up on them. They are the beloved of his soul.

His heart is broken.

I have given the beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies. And so, he pleads with them, repent, repent. Stand by the roads and look and ask. You know, it reminds me of Michael spoke to us not too long ago about the parable of the soils.

Remember that? You know, I call it the parable of the sower, but works both ways.

Okay?

Same parable. What has always interested me about that parable is when he finishes the parable, okay, and you know what the parable I'm talking about, right, the parable of the four soils, okay, and the seed that is spread, and Jesus finishes the parable, and he walks off, and his disciples follow after him, and some in the crowd follow after him, and the disciples and the ones in the crowd ask him, what does this mean?

What's the meaning of this parable? Now, you know what the first thing he says is? Now, you know, when I first, you know, when I, what?

Surprise.

To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God. Now, who is this you? Who, you know, why is it given to them? It's given to those who ask, who seek, who knock, who are hungry and thirsty. We heard what you said, but we know there's more to it.

We want to hear it. We're hungry for more. We're thirsty for more. We're here to ask, and to seek, and to knock. Enlighten us. Answer our question. Speak to us. God says, look and ask, you know, you that are hungry, you that are thirsty, you that are lost.

You know, I'm convinced these people, I don't think they knew they were lost. Now, God knows they're lost. God knows they're going the wrong way. But you see, what do they say? We will not walk on it.

We're going our way. We know where we're going. Well, not really. They may think they know where they're going. He says, look and ask for the ancient paths. He says, you're going the wrong way. You need to get on the right path.

You need to turn around. And you need to ask for directions, OK? Look for the ancient paths. Now, why does he call it the ancient paths? Or your translation may say old. These paths, you know, the word road and the word way are both the same word.

But the word path is a different word. These other ways are just general ways, paved, you know, for chariots, for walking, for whatever. A path is a trodden place. It's made by walking. Ask for the ancient paths, the old paths, the old paths.

You know, when these people come to find themselves not too far distance from here in Babylon, in exile, you know what they're doing? They're talking about the good old days. You know what I'm saying?

They're talking about the good old days. Remember when God blessed us, you know, when our herds and flocks increased, you know, and our flocks grew, and we had plenty of food, plenty of oil? God blessed us.

Remember those good old days, you know. That's, you know, these paths that he's talking about here, you know, they're talking about them in that way, the good old days. And, you know, we do the same thing today.

When we get together, quite often, you know, a group of people that get together and start talking, invariably, they'll tell stories about the good old days. Now, I'll tell you something interesting here, okay?

Those people in exile, believe me, they were talking about the good old days. But now, think about this. If you sit down and hear a Christian, a Christian, a follower of Christ, a one who is on the upward way, whose right hand is held by God himself, who counsels him day by day, and is leading him on the upward way to glory.

Now, that's the way Psalm 73 describes it, okay? He counsels me, and afterward, he will receive me to glory, okay? We're headed on the upward way to glory, right? And everything that happens to us is for our good, and will make us more like Christ, day by day, right?

Okay, given that, and a lot of other scriptures, how can you talk about the good old days, if they're getting better and better, right? Well, these people were talking about the good old days, alright?

That's what God is saying here. Listen, this path, okay, that I'm talking about here, is the way things used to be. Now, God made this covenant with them, and richly blessed them. Okay, at this point in time, that was a few hundred years ago.

And he's saying, listen, you may be looking for something new. You may be looking for a new God. You may be looking for a new way, but I'm telling you, you're going the wrong way. You need to go back.

You need to repent, and walk the way we started out, in the good old days. Those ancient paths, when we made a covenant, and I gave you my word. How can a young man cleanse his way? Does anybody know the answer to that?

What was it? According to your word.

Yes.

You're not walking in my word anymore. My word is, you know, the old paths, you know, some things last. And there's something good about something that lasts. You know what I mean? Something that's durable, well made, does what it's supposed to do, and does it well, and lasts, and lasts.

The word of God is like that. Thy word is a lamp to my feet, a light to my path. So when he says the ancient paths, he's talking about his word. The word that he gave them in the beginning, okay? When he made the covenant with them.

And then he says, ask for the ancient paths where the good way is. It's a good way. Now, not too long ago, maybe one or two evenings ago, Michael reminded us of what is good and what is not. Remember the rich young ruler who comes to Jesus and says, good teacher.

And what does Michael say about that? You know, when Jesus replies, there's none good but who? But God. And the rich young ruler, his standard of good was where? In mankind. Where did he look for what was good and what was not?

Man.

Okay?

And Jesus says, you've got the wrong standard. There's none good but where? But God. And so, where the good way is. The good way is God's way.

Okay?

That's it. There's no man-made path, okay, that's the good way. The good way is God's way. And what does he ask them? He says, look, when you find this good way, when you find my way, the way that I gave you from the beginning, the word, you know, that's ancient, you know, it's interesting, even though we live under the new covenant, we still refer to it as the old, old story.

You know what I'm saying here? Hey, you know, the ancient path has been from the beginning. He says, when you find the good way, walk in it. You know, when you find the good way, walk in it. And find rest for your souls.

Find rest for your souls. In Exodus chapter 33, Moses says to God, we're not going anywhere unless you go with us. You know, how are we going to be known as your people if you don't go with us? God finally relents.

Because he told him, hey, I've had it with you, I'm not going with you. Moses is quite an intercessor, believe me. God finally says, okay, I'll go with you. I'm going to go with you, and you will find rest.

You will find rest. And the place where they were going, you know, the promised land, it's called a place of rest. You know, as they travel to the promised land, it's called a place of rest. You will find rest.

Hebrews refers to it as a place of rest. And he says, for us today, there is still a Sabbath rest. As a matter of fact, Jesus himself says to us, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

The last thing I want to point out here is this passage of scripture points to Christ. It's a message from God to his people to repent. And it's also a pointer to Christ. You see, Christ also says to us, come to me, and you will find rest for your souls.

And one day, Jesus said to his disciples, to his, this was to his apostles. He said, I'm going away. In John 14, you know the passage, I'm going away. Now, where's he going? He says, I'm going to go back to my father.

I'm going to prepare a place for you. And there was a couple of questions after he said that, at least two recorded, okay? One from Thomas, one from Philip. But the one from Thomas, Thomas says, wait a minute, we don't know where you're going.

We do not know the way. What does Jesus say? I, and the way, and the truth, and the life, okay? And so, this ancient path here, which is the good way, is Christ himself. You know, that is amazing, you know?

It points us directly to Christ. We are travelers on our way, on the path, hopefully on this good way. The way of Christ. And we walk, you know, how do you figure this in your mind? As we walk, it's a walk in rest.

You see, we walk in the finished work of Christ. We rest in the finished work of Christ. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are living in the spirit of Christ Jesus, according to the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, and not according to the law of sin and death.

You see, the law of sin and death covers any work for your salvation. The law of the life of the spirit in Christ Jesus, okay, is a life of rest. The work has already been done. We can rest in that finished work of Christ.

Hallelujah. Praise his holy name for what he has done for us. Well, that's basically the message I wanted to share with you tonight. This is a message from God to his people. It's a message of repentance, and it's a message that points us to Christ.

He is the way, the truth, and the life. So, the last scripture I share with you is a scripture from Philippians 3, verse 13. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ.

This is the ancient path. This is the way of God. This is the way of Christ. Paul presses on. Paul presses on. And so I close with this. Press on, brothers and sisters.

Okay.

If there's not any last word, we sing the doxology. How did you know that? Praise God.