The Church is Regulated by Scripture - Jeremiah 6:16-17

Amen. It is unfathomable the love that our

Lord Jesus Christ has for His church. Thank you,

Gunnar, for leading us in worship in song. We continue in worship through the preaching of the

Word. Maybe up to this point in 17 years of preaching, the most important sermon that I've ever preached perhaps came last

July, July 24th, and I preached from Jeremiah 6. I'm going to ask you tonight to turn again in your

Bibles to Jeremiah 6, Jeremiah 6. And that sermon, some of you heard that sermon, some of you listened to that sermon online, but that sermon, and by the way, this is not the same sermon, but just to review, that sermon, it was after me coming back from the

Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Anaheim, and then the mission trip that I went on to Mexico.

And if you remember, I went down to Mexico and I was this American pastor going to help the churches down in Mexico, but instead

God used the churches in Mexico to encourage, convict, challenge, and inspire me.

And so I preached about our church looking to go back to our Baptist roots in five areas, not changing anything theologically, but to put the theology

I'd been preaching here for six years at that point into practice. And so there were five points to that sermon.

That's the quiz tonight. What were those five points? If you know them, you don't have to listen to this sermon. No, I'm just joking.

You still would have to, but anyway, number one was theology. I said, we're going to move away from the

Baptist faith and message 2000, and we're going to go back to our roots, the 1689. In our ecclesiology, that is we're going to move away from being deacon -led and committee -led, and we're going to be, like the scriptures say, to being pastor -led or elder -led.

And our thirdly was worship. Going to move to regulating our worship by God's word.

Fourthly, my fourth point was homes. We're moving to encourage biblical homes and family worship.

And then the fifth point was missions. Going to move away from giving to the cooperative program. We're going to take back control of our missions giving and our missions involvement, understanding that the local church is the mission entity in the

New Testament. Now, when I preached that sermon back in July, I had no idea where this journey would lead us.

I mean, I knew where I wanted this journey to lead us, but I wasn't sure exactly where and how long that it would, where we would go for sure and how long it would take.

But tonight, we're at an important milestone. Tonight, what we're doing as a church for our guests tonight, what we're doing as a church is we have a business meeting and we're going to look at formalizing what we believe and putting our theology as it were in writing to adjust our constitution and bylaws to seek to be healthier and in line with the scriptures.

We seek tonight to follow God's ancient paths. That's what we want to do.

We seek to follow this Bible. We seek to have a healthy church. What we've done here over the last few months is we've taken baby steps in this direction.

And tonight we have another important step to take. So I thought it would be good to consider Jeremiah 6 again tonight.

It's just a powerful text, really. And so I invite you to stand with me in the honor of reading

God's word. And I'm going to read Jeremiah 6, verse 16 and 17.

Jeremiah 6, verse 16. Thus says the Lord. Thus says

Yahweh, stand by the roads and look and ask for the ancient paths where the good way is and walk in it and find a rest for your souls.

But they said, we will not walk in. I sent watchmen over you saying, pay attention to the sound of the trumpet.

But they said, we will not pay attention. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for your word. We pray that we would glean your truth tonight.

Lord, that you would strengthen us, encourage us, remind us of the deep, deep love of Jesus. Remind us that all creatures of our

God and King ought to be worshiping you, let alone your church. We ought to be worshiping you rightly and well.

And we bring glory and honor to the name of Christ when we seek to take this Bible and align our lives in accordance with what it says and trusting you the whole way, no matter the cost, for the glory of Christ.

We pray that you would speak to us now from your word. Lord, we know there are some people here,

I think immediately of young people, but there may be older people here too that are not converted. We pray that tonight that they would hear the gospel.

Lord, that you would work in their life in such a way that they would repent of their sins and believe on Christ.

We pray that even tonight you would do that. Let us see tonight the glory of the church and we pray it in Jesus' name, amen.

You may be seated. All right, this is a topical message, but I'll give us a little bit of context first.

If you'll remember, Jeremiah is what we call a major prophet. It's not that Jeremiah is more important than Nahum or whatever, but it's that his book is just much longer.

It takes a lot longer to read Jeremiah than it does Jonah. And so Jeremiah is what we call a major prophet.

He began his ministry under the last good king of Judah. The last good king of Judah, of course, being

Josiah. He was called at a young age, which let me just say this to our young people in here.

In the Bible, there are many times that God uses young people to do hard things and great things for His glory.

Well, don't despise the age that you are now and say, well, maybe later I'll choose to follow the ancient paths.

Maybe later I'll get serious about the things of God. No, Jeremiah was called even at a young age.

He spent decades preaching God's blessing for any who would follow him and God's judgment for those who disobeyed.

He foretold, he prophesied the new covenant. In fact, let's just look at that real quick. Jeremiah 31, flip over there.

Just a few chapters, few pages for you. Jeremiah 31, the one, it's hard to say there's more important parts of Jeremiah than others, but this is a key text in Jeremiah that's important, that's quoted in the

New Testament. But in Jeremiah chapter 31, verse 31, the

Lord prophesied through Jeremiah and says, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when

I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when

I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the

Lord, but this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the

Lord. I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts and I will be their

God and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, know the

Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more.

This is the new covenant that was prophesied by Jeremiah. And what we understand is that in this covenant, our sins are forgiven and we know the

Lord. This is why as Baptists, we don't baptize anybody except those who we believe are regenerate and trust in Christ by faith.

That's because we don't believe infants are in the new covenant. We don't believe unbelievers are in the new covenant, why?

Because those in the new covenant know the Lord and their sins are forgiven. And so an important Baptist text, actually all the

Bible is an important Baptist text, but you understand. So this is the book of Jeremiah.

Much of Jeremiah's preaching goes unheeded. Of course, it doesn't stop him from preaching the truth.

Preachers today could learn much from the prophet

Jeremiah. That is, don't worry about what the culture's gonna say, just keep preaching the truth. You may find yourself in a well, drop down in the well, sunk in the mud like Jeremiah, no matter, keep preaching the truth and trust that God will use it as he did in Jeremiah, though he didn't use it in his lifetime, but he continued to use it even today.

And so we come to Jeremiah six and in verse 16, we have another example of Jeremiah preaching the truth and saying, this is what happens if you do what

God says. Thus says the Lord, stand by the roads and look and ask for the ancient past where the good way is and walk in it and find a rest for your souls.

If you do what God says here, then you'll find rest.

But there's five commands. See if you can see them real quick in verse 16. Five commands. Number one is stand, okay?

Number two is look. These are all imperatives. Number three is ask. Number four is walk.

And number five is find. So there comes a point in our lives where we have to stand.

Okay, you think of a crossroads. There's not many crossroads per se in Perryville, but if you're coming up, let's see, if you're going west on Highway 16, you come up by Harps there and you've got an opportunity to either turn left and go south on Highway 9 and 10 or turn right and go north, you have the option, right?

You look, you come to the point and you look, am I gonna go this way? Am I gonna go that way? It happens in our lives proverbially as well, metaphorically as well.

We come to a position in our life and do I need to take this job? Do I need to take this promotion? Do I need to go to this church?

What is it that I need to do in my life? And so there's times in our life that we have to stand at the crossroads and we have to look.

And then we have to ask. We have to ask for the ancient path. I'll talk about that in just a moment, but that's the scriptures.

And then we're to walk in that way. And if we do that, we're to find rest for our souls.

If Judah would do this in the text, she would find mercy, but of course they would not listen. The end of 16 says they were stubborn, they were hard -hearted, they refused the

Lord's way. And what is the Lord's way? The Lord's way, friends, is the book.

These are the ancient paths. The ancient paths that God would have his people follow from time immemorial are the scriptures.

The paths that we're to follow are the scriptures. So Jeremiah says, stand. Stand at the roads and look, which path will you trod?

Which way will you go? By the way, that word way in the scriptures, it's used many times all over the place.

Like in Proverbs, there's a way that seems right unto a man, but the end is death. Or blesses man who does not stand in the way of sinners.

So which way are you gonna choose? The way of the righteous, the way that seems right to a man, or are you gonna choose

God's way? We stop, we look, we consider. But the way that we should seek is the ancient paths.

By the way, this does not mean that old, some people preach a text like this, and they try to say that old is automatically right, right?

We're not saying that old is automatically right. That's not true. And it doesn't mean that change is always bad.

In fact, what we're trying to do tonight, later in our business meeting, is we're seeking to make changes, but we're seeking to make changes that align with God's word.

So God is calling his people in our text to the ancient paths. Look there in the text, the word for ancient, ask for the ancient paths.

One of the neat things about the word ancient in Hebrew is it also can mean, it can mean like a long time in the past, but it can also mean like a long time in the future.

So the word can mean like the everlasting paths. So the church is to walk the everlasting paths.

And friends, I'm telling us tonight, the ancient paths, the everlasting paths are the scriptures. The scriptures are the eternal paths.

The road that God would have his people walk is the road of unchanging truth.

You should be encouraged by this. The saints of old have walked this path. Moses walked this path.

David walked this path. Paul, John, Peter, James walked this path.

It is this way that is the road to the celestial city. This is the way where the good way is.

Ask for the ancient paths where the good way is and walk in it. So this is the road that believers must walk.

Friends, tonight, the word of God is the way of God's people, not just theoretically, but practically.

I could preach in a thousand Baptist churches in Arkansas, and I could preach, we need to believe the

Bible. We need to trust the Bible. We need to bring the Bible back. We need the 10 commandments in our schools, everybody be like, amen, amen, amen.

But it's one thing to theoretically believe that you believe the Bible, and it's another thing to walk in the

Bible's paths. And this is where we're at. So all that was a bit exegetical, but now we're gonna shift gears should be topical.

I want to just give a topical thought here of how this applies to the church.

Five ways that I wanna preach about tonight. Five ways that the local church must walk the ancient paths.

Or if I can, I'll put it this way. Five ways that the church today must be regulated by the scriptures.

Picture these paths like railroad tracks. And that is, railroad tracks, they may turn and they may wind, but if you're on the railroad tracks, that's where you're gonna stay, right?

You can't deviate left or right. You've gotta stay true to the tracks. And that's what we're trying to do.

So five ways the local church must be regulated by scripture. First, in the church's meaning.

Number one, in the church's meaning. If the church is going to walk in the ancient paths, then we must realize that you and I do not get to define the church however we want.

Well, I like to think of church, you talk with good people in Arkansas, I like to think of the church like this.

Well, I like to think, it doesn't matter, right? In the words of the great theologian, Rock Dwayne Johnson, right?

It doesn't matter what you think, right? It matters what the Bible says. This means that I can't understand the church only in the universal sense.

Well, I like to think of the church in the universal sense. I just think of the church of all believers, of all time, and nothing else.

Why can't I think of the church only in that way? Because the Bible tells me of the church at Corinth, of the church at Ephesus, of the church at Philippi.

And it tells me other things, like carry one another's burdens and confess your sins one to another.

And there's no way that I can do these commands in any meaningful way unless I'm plugged into a local church.

I don't get to define the church. I don't get to issue a statement and say, I like to think of the church like this.

It's the Bible that defines the church. The scriptures regulate the church's meaning.

You cannot tell me, and I'm telling you, if you haven't ever had a conversation like this, then you haven't talked to very many people in Arkansas.

You cannot tell me that you and two or three of your buddies going fishing on Sunday morning is just as good as going to church because the

Bible says where two or three are gathered, there I am among them. People say those kind of loony comments, but you are not allowed to say those things.

And you're not allowed to believe those things because the scriptures must define the church.

So first, the Bible regulates the church's meaning. Secondly, the Bible regulates the church's membership.

If we're gonna walk the ancient paths, we have to define the church the way the Bible does.

We have to define the membership of the church the way the Bible does. I alluded to that earlier from the

New Covenant. And so the Bible teaches that it's only those born again, John 3, who see the kingdom of God.

And so the Bible regulates our membership. As a Baptist church, we understand the scriptures, not to be arrogant here, but I believe we understand the scriptures rightly in that it's not only those born again can be members of the church, but that these born again need to submit to believers' baptism in order to join the church.

Because in baptism, we are saying that this man or woman is a brother or sister in Christ.

And we know, at least to the best of our ability, that he or she has submitted their life to Christ and is signifying that through this outward ordinance of baptism.

That's what we're saying. You understand, at the end of the day, I don't really know a person's heart and neither do you, but the

Bible has given us all these ways that we're to observe someone's life. And so when we baptize somebody, we're saying, we believe you're a believer.

We think you're a Christian. That's what we're doing. We're declaring before the congregation and before the world, as it were, that this person has been changed by grace.

Furthermore, I'll read to you a passage from 1 Corinthians 5 .12. I like to bring this up because most people don't even are aware that it's in the

Bible. But 1 Corinthians 5 .12, Paul says, for what have

I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?

You mean believers are to judge one another? Yes, it's not the same idea of being judgy or whatever, but we're to be the church, the local church is to be a disciplined church.

Those whose outward actions are not in line with Christ's will for His people ought to be confronted in love.

They ought to be called to repentance and encouraged in the way of truth and if they persist in unrepentance, then they ought to be, after much care and patience, this is a hard task, but after much care and patience, if they continue in unrepentance, then they ought to be removed from the church.

Just like I don't know a person's heart when they're baptized, if they're really a believer or not, same too when we discipline a member and ultimately say, look, you continue to live this way and you continue to live unrepentantly based on all evidence that's given to us, it doesn't look like you're a believer.

So we turn them out to the world in hopes that they'll do what? Repent. So the word of God regulates our membership.

It tells us who can be a member, tells us how they can be a member, it tells us what their responsibilities are as members, which by the way, means there is, and you guys are doing a great job at this, by the way, but it means that there's no such thing as members that just sit and do nothing.

Let me use this analogy. In too many Baptist churches, there are too many members who think that they're the appendix of the body.

They don't do anything until they rupture and wanna split the church, right? They don't do anything until they get angry and upset and they need to be removed.

No, friends, we're to be a every member ministry sort of church. The Bible regulates our membership.

Thirdly, the Bible regulates the church's methodology. So it regulates the church's meaning, the church's membership, the church's methodology.

Let me go back to verse 16 for a moment, Jeremiah 6. Thus says the Lord, stand by the roads and look and ask for the ancient past where the good way is and walk in it.

Okay, so to walk in the ancient past, to walk according to the Bible, means that I want to do church the way that the

Lord has instructed. Two points to mention here under methodology. Number one,

Sunday worship. So the church is to do, we are to do church.

The methodology of the church must be regulated by scripture. First, I wanna mention Sunday worship.

I'll just mention two, there's much more that we could say, but one, Sunday worship. So in the context of worship in the

Old Testament, God says this to his people, Deuteronomy 12, 32. Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do.

You shall not add to it or take from it. God cares.

Evangelicals must understand this message today. God cares how he's worshiped. We think that God just cares about our intentions or motivations and he does care about those things.

But we think that that means as long as I feel like I'm doing right, that God is pleased with that worship, right?

So you come up here and you say, well, I would like to do a ballerina set, which would be interesting for me to do, but I'd like to do a ballerina set up here in an act of worship to God.

No, that wouldn't be right because it's not regulated by scripture. Well, you know what, this summer, this would be a load off of my shoulders.

This summer, you know what we should do? Instead of preaching the word during the messages, let's watch movie clips and let's talk about how these movie clips point to Christ.

Man, that would be awesome. We'd probably fill this place up, right? We can't do that. Why? Are you being judgmental?

Are you saying that one church is allowed to do this and you're not doing that? Who are you saying?

It's not me, it's the Bible. The Bible regulates our Sunday worship.

All of this is centered around the word of God and the gospel of King Jesus.

In our Sunday gatherings, we're to read the word, we're to preach the word, we're to sing the word, we're to pray according to the word, we're to give according to the word, we're to display the word as it were in the ordinances and all of this with godly reverence, understanding that our approach to God is only through the finished work of Christ.

The Bible tells us, the Bible regulates our worship and it tells us what

God desires in our worship and we must be careful not to add or take away from it because we long to bring honor and glory to our great

King. I'm gonna tell you this story. I want you to listen to the full story. I hope it comes across as encouraging because it's very encouraging to me.

Last year, there were a couple events that Stephanie and I went to. One was we went to an event at By the

Word Baptist Church in Azel, Texas and I was invited to preach there and I preached and Stephanie and I were so encouraged by the worship.

There was just something beautiful about the worship there and yet, not only were we encouraged, we were also discouraged because we're just like, man, there are just some things, there are just some things that they're not where they need to be in our worship.

And so it's so encouraging to worship there and yet, oh man, we need to change some things. And then in June, we worshiped at a church in Arizona, Apologia, and it was the same thing.

We looked at each other, there might've been tears in our eyes, like we're just so overwhelmed by the worship of God and hearing everyone sing and all those things and yet at the same time, we were a little bit discouraged.

We just said, we've gotta, we've just, I've gotta make some changes. This morning, we had some visitors at our church and they came up to us after the church and I wasn't expecting this today and it just hit me like a, it was like the

Lord had this blindsided encouragement that I didn't know was gonna come, but they came up to me and they talked about how much, guess what?

Our worship encouraged them and how they wished at their church that their worship was more like our worship.

What has happened, right? It's like God has moved and God is moving and I listened to you tonight and I don't wanna sing in the front because you guys are gonna think

I'm bad to costal because I'm not like moving my arms and I'm just like, I can't get enough of hearing you sing praises to the

King and hearing us come together and the unity that we've been experiencing and all that God has been doing in our worship here.

Praise God because God is worthy of us worshiping Him in the right way. The scriptures must regulate the church's methodology.

First, that means in our Sunday worship. Secondly, it should regulate the church's methodology in our soul winning, in our

Sunday worship. Secondly, our soul winning. What I want to say here is that the church is obligated.

It's a great privilege and obligation of the church to spread the gospel of our

Lord and Savior far and wide. Oh, that psalm that we're memorizing, right?

Oh, sing to the Lord, a new song. Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless His name.

Tell of His salvation. When from day to day, declare

His glory. Where? Among the nations for great is the

Lord and greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods.

For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens.

Splendor and majesty are before Him. Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.

This is the God that we serve and this is the God that is worthy of our declaration to the nations and our methodology in this must be regulated by the scriptures.

A lot of churches are busy with a lot of activities that they call outreach. Now, I'm gonna just tell you this and we can push back if you want and we can talk about this later, but just hear my heart on this.

The Lord hasn't called the church to do outreach so much as He has called us to declare

His glory to every creature on the planet. Well, what I'm saying is biblical evangelism isn't throwing a block party or trying to be nice to folks or have a good reputation in the community.

Hey, we have to think about how we're gonna behave because we want the community to think that we're a good church and a nice church and so we need to be careful about the things that we say and we don't wanna be weirdos and we don't wanna be walking around town with our

Bibles and people think that we're Jehovah's Witness where let's be careful, let's guard our reputation. No, no, no, friends, the

Bible calls us to declare the glory of God right here in Perryville and declaring the glory of God is biblical evangelism.

It is telling people that they are sinners and that they must repent and they must look to Christ and that Jesus Christ will save the vilest of offenders who repents and believes the gospel.

Yes, the church, I'm not saying just go out there and be a jerk. You're sinful if that's what you're doing.

The church ought to be kind and loving and the church can certainly help folks in need.

We shouldn't be against these things. We are for these things but these things in and of themselves, being kind, being loving, helping people in need, that's not evangelism unless we have verbally communicated the good news of what

Jesus Christ has done and you haven't finished evangelism unless you call sinners to respond.

In other words, if you just go around and you just say, Jesus Christ died and rose again, Jesus Christ died and rose again,

Jesus Christ died and rose again for sinners. Well, you have communicated the gospel, you haven't evangelized.

To evangelize is to say Jesus Christ died on the cross for sinners and rose again. You sir, you man, you young boy, you young girl, you must repent, you must repent.

Here's how you respond to that message. You repent of your sins and you believe the gospel.

Friends, too many churches have abandoned the ancient paths of soul winning long ago and now if you look across the evangelical landscape, we're reaping what we've sown.

The Bible must regulate the church's methodology. It's true of Sunday worship, it's true of soul winning.

Listen, we're not doing anything special, really. Like, I can just imagine you tell someone, you know how creative and imaginative our pastor is?

Here's his great idea about evangelism. We're going and knocking on people's doors, right?

Like people expect you're like, what, you're gonna have some sort of event? You're gonna do some sort? And like, I'm not necessarily against events and we've done events as a church before.

But I'm just saying, how hard is it to just go out and tell people Jesus Christ died for sinners, will you have him?

He's coming to judge the living and the dead. Will you repent and believe the gospel? The scriptures must regulate the local church's methodology.

Sunday worship, soul winning. Fourthly, the scriptures must regulate the local church's management.

So it's meaning, it's membership, it's methodology. Fourthly, it's management.

In Philippians 1 .1, in fact, let's just turn there real quick so you can see it. Wow, I just flipped and it's right there.

Philippians 1 .1, Paul says this. Paul writing to a local church. Paul and Timothy, Philippians 1 .1.

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi with the overseers and deacons, okay?

You know how many offices you see in that text? You see three. Now I know, as Baptists, we affirm two, but I'm just gonna add a third to make a point.

And the point is, in that text, you see overseers. Office number one in the church, you see overseers.

What is that? Elders, pastors, overseers. Bishops, shepherds, all these interchangeably.

Overseers, by the way, it's plural, isn't it? So one local church, overseers, that is pastors. Office number two is deacons, overseers and the deacons.

And then thirdly, what's the third office? Well, if I may, I'll just say it this way, the saints. You see the overseers, you see the deacons, you see the saints.

And here's what I mean by this. The saints, I mean our churches are to be congregationally upheld, deacon served and pastor led.

And all of this is under the government of King Jesus. Get it out of our minds that the church is a democracy.

I understand that we're in America. I understand that democracy is woven into our very

DNA. And we think, well, the church is a democracy, right? No, in fact, a majority of the church may vote one way, but that doesn't make it right because the church is not a democracy.

It's a monarchy and Christ is King. He's the head of the church.

Deacons are not the head of the church. Pastors are not the head of the church. Members are not the head of the church. Committees are not the head of the church.

Jesus Christ is the head of the church. And Christ has given us specific instructions in the

Bible for how he would have his church to be managed. So if you will, I'll just summarize some things.

Church members are to love and serve one another. They're to watch over one another in love.

They are to help support the mission of the church. Deacons are to help serve and help take care of the physical needs of those in the body.

And they are to have model and exemplary lives of holiness. The pastors are to care for the souls of the church as those who will give an account to the

Lord. So you have members serving one another, deacons helping to serve the physical needs of the church, pastors watching over the flock and to preach and teach

God's word. Qualified men faithfully preaching God's word while having lives that match what they preach.

And they're to be leaders in evangelism. They're not to tell you from the pulpit, go out there and evangelize.

But they're saying, come and do as I am doing and evangelize along with me. They're to oversee the ministries of the church.

It's hard for me to preach this because it's about me, but let me say this because it is biblical truth.

But local churches ought to love and honor and follow and be grateful for godly pastors. Men who love the

Bible, men who love the Lord Jesus, men who are not afraid to preach and teach and live the full counsel of God's word.

And we've seen and we've beat this horse to death, but the churches in the

New Testament were led by plurality of pastors. It's just there, it's undeniable.

So I think that this means that as local churches, as we see men qualified among us who desire the office of pastor, we ought to test them.

And then we ought to call them to pastoral ministry or affirm that call, God calls and we affirm that call should they pass the biblical qualifications.

So the local church must be managed under the headship of Christ, according to the standards and precepts he's given us in his book.

Friends, these are the ancient paths. Okay, last one. The Bible regulates the church's meaning, the church's membership, the church's methodology, the church's management, and finally, the local church's majesty.

Now, what I mean here is that the Bible tells us what a healthy and effective church is, not the world, not some guru working for a church growth company, not some dude who's sitting in his office, who's sending out emails, telling you how a church should be healthy.

No, friends, it's the Bible. The majesty of the church is defined by the scriptures. Parents in the home define a good meal, not the children.

So you let a child pick what he wants for supper and maybe he'll say, you know what I want tonight? Cotton candy and Skittles.

And a night or two of that, the child, he might say, that's an effective meal. But let that run long -term and see what happens.

Your dentist bills are gonna go up and his long -term health is going to be affected. Well, similarly, it is the same way with churches because a lot of churches today are running on cotton candy and Skittles in their worship, in their evangelism, in their preaching, and you might be tempted to peer into one of those churches.

You might say, man, look at all the stuff they got going on and look at all the programs and look at all the people.

And you might be tempted to think, well, there's so many people, they must be effective. And this must be the majesty of the church, but it's wrong.

It's all spiritual diabetes and it will destroy the soul, destroy the church.

The scriptures regulate the majesty of the church, not the culture, what a healthy church is and what a healthy church looks like.

And the reality is this, please hear my heart on this. A local church, a healthy local church is the most beautiful place on earth.

There's not a place closer to heaven than a church that is functioning biblically.

It is why I am willing to give my life here to sacrifice my reputation, to sacrifice my livelihood, to sacrifice everything that I possibly can to see.

And it can't be, I can't do it. I can't bring reformation to a church. Only the Holy Spirit of God can do that.

But I've told the Lord, I am resolved. I'm resolved, I'm willing, I'll do it, I'll do it. Here I am,

God, see me no matter the cost because I know there's not a healthier, there's not a more beautiful place in the world today than a healthy local church.

It's worth, worth the cost. Here's where believers of all walks of life and various ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, different pasts, different hobbies, different interests, different countries of origin, here is where they come together and in Christ, they are one.

Where they help each other fight sin and they sharpen one another in the faith.

They share fellowship in Christ. It doesn't mean that we don't ever have disagreements, which much of marriage tonight would say, we never have a disagreement.

If you have disagreements with your spouse sometimes, the person you love the most, then it doesn't not follow that there will be times in the local church, you're going to have a disagreement, but it's where we can talk about our disagreements.

We can love each other through our disagreements and we can go to the Bible together because we share the same authority that we honor the scriptures.

The local church is where the kingdom is expanding and where believers are growing in holiness and where Christ is honored and rejoiced in by all where every

Lord's day, what a great day. The saints, they can lay aside.

He's so frustrated by the nonsense going on in the world and the scariness and banks crashing and Chinese spy balloons and whatever's going on on our

TV when the president gets up there and starts ranting. He's like, I can come away from all of that sin and misery and I can come here with these people.

This rag tag group of people, we may not be much to look at, but there's something special because we have

Christ. Friends, the local church is the most beautiful place on earth.

We carry forth the gospel. We see true conversions, real repentance. This is the church

Christ bled for. This is the church that Christ is building. The one that is regulated by scripture.

The one who stands by the roads and looks and asks for the ancient past where the good way is and walks in it and finds rest for their souls.

Those are the churches that Christ is building. And so what I set before you tonight is this, will we trust

God's way for his church? Because not everyone does. Not everyone does. Even in the text, not everyone does.

They said, we will not walk in it. There are people who will hear Christ's vision for the church and they will say, that's not what we want.

We want things like they've always been. We want things like they used to be. We wanna just do it this way because it makes us comfortable.

We're not gonna listen to it. And if you say that, you'll not find rest for your souls. Verse 17,

I set watchmen over you saying, pay attention to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, we will not pay attention. In other words, there's a warning.

If you wanna go your own way, you don't wanna walk the ancient path, you're just gonna take this path over here. The warning is the wolves are out there and they will gobble you up.

Don't go there, but some will choose to do it. So I set before us tonight this, will we stand at the crossroads and look?

So many ways you could choose, so many paths you could follow when it comes to Christ's church. But tonight, will you choose the ancient path?

What we need today is a reformation. The only way that this will ever happen is if everyday

Christians get serious about the Bible. If you're looking to the seminary students, if you're looking to the professors, if you're looking to the white collars of the world to lead this reformation, it's not gonna happen.

It starts with us, everyday Christians. It sounds so simple, it almost comes over simplistic, but please don't let it.

Everyday Christians are just gonna take this up and say, this is the Bible and I believe it. And I'm gonna do what it says.

By the grace of God and for the glory of Christ. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word tonight.

Will you help us to be a church that follows the ancient paths? There's no other way for us to follow that's pleasing to you and let that be at the forefront of our minds.

And all that we do, and all that we do, we want to please you and we want to bring glory to Christ.

Perhaps even tonight, there's one that doesn't know Christ. I pray that tonight will be the night they repent of their foolishness and sin and rebellion and they come to Christ knowing their sweet and abundant mercy in him.