Sermon 3/09/03 pm

Jim Huskey, The Old Paths

We read some weeks ago, as we walked through the book of Acts, about

some people in the city of Athens whose primary purpose in life seemed

to be to find and talk about some new thing. There are a lot of people

in the world who are hung up on anything that's new. If it's new,

according to the thinking of a lot of folks, it has to be better than

anything else that's come along. Sometimes things that are new are

good, but not always. Sometimes there is value in those things that

are old. I sit sometimes and wish like everything that I'd never let

my old '57 Chevrolet get away from me. Do you know what that thing

would be worth today if I just kept it in "half-way decent" shape?

With what I could get for it, I could nearly go now and buy a new

Cadillac; and I gave $750.00 for it. Sometimes things that are old

have a way of being or becoming very, very valuable. Now keep in mind

that something is not valuable JUST BECAUSE it's old. There has to be

a reason for that value.

When Jeremiah, the prophet, came on the scene, the nation of Israel,

God's people' had already divided into the northern and southern

tribes. The southern tribe, Judah, another tribe, and a half tribe;

then there was the northern tribes. They had already been carried

away into captivity. Judah was on the verge of captivity. The

Babylonians were poised just waiting to bring down God's wrath upon

them. So Jeremiah appears at a time when the nation of Judah needed

some redirection. I want you to listen to what Jeremiah told them.

Jeremiah 6:13 beginning, "For from the least of them even unto the

greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the

prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. They have

healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying,

Peace, peace, when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they had

committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither

could they blush; therefore they shall fall among them that fall;

at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the Lord.

Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the

old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find

rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein."

Jeremiah 6:13-16. What is he telling them? He's telling them they

must go back to something that's old. If we read on down to verse 19,

we find what that thing that's "old" is, about which he is talking.

"Hear, O earth; behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the

fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my

words, nor to my law, but rejected it." Jeremiah 13:19. So what he's

telling them is, 'ask for something old'. Why is that which is old

so valuable in this case? It's because it was the word, it was the

law of God. God is telling them 'walk in my law, walk in my word and

you'll have rest.' But they said, 'we will not walk therein.' Ask

for that which is old.

You know, sometimes I get real worried about the religious movements

that take place because they are always introducing something new.

Well, if it is apart from what God has delivered to mankind and it's

less that two thousand years old, then it's not old enough. It's not

old enough to be valuable. You see, God's word is that old thing

Jeremiah was trying to get his people to ask for, to stand in, to walk

in, and to obey. There are an awful lot of parallels between the

nation of Israel and the nation of Judah in the Old Testament and the

people of God in the New Testament. See, the church has over time and

in a number of instances, done the very same thing the nation of Israel

and the nation of Judah did. God is telling them 'you listen to my

word, you listen to my law, and you walk in it, that is, the law of

Christ.' But time and time again, man has decided that he will not be

content to walk therein, but he wants something new, something less

restrictive, something that makes less demands, something that is more

appealing. The problem with that is what it leads to and to where it

leads.

When man rejects that old gospel, that old word which was delivered to

the apostles and prophets in the New Testament days, written down for

us, what is man going to accept, what is he going to believe!!!!!! Of

what is he going to grab???

I want us to read a little more in Jeremiah 6, because Jeremiah tells

us what was going to happen. Let's pick up in Jeremiah 6:20. God

has already said he'd bring evil upon this people; the reason is, they

had rejected his word and would not receive it. "To what purpose

cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far

country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices

sweet unto me. Therefore, thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will lay

stumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons

together shall fall upon them; the neighbour and his friend shall

perish." Jeremiah 6:20,21. There is a parallel in the New Testament.

Remember the apostle Paul wrote to the brethren of Thessalonica and

said those would be sent a strong delusion. "And for this cause God

shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that

they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had

pleasure in unrighteousness." II Thess. 2:11,12. Well what did he

say he was going to do to the people of Judah. "Behold I lay

stumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons

together shall fall upon them...." Jer. 6:21. Now why would God do

a thing like that????? Somebody would come along and say 'well it's

God's fault.' NO IT WASN'T!!!!! The reason God did that was because

they would not heed his commands. When a person rejects the truth,

the only thing left to believe is a working of error. Thus, Jeremiah

pled, 'stand and see, ask for the old paths wherein is the good way

and walk therein.'

One of the reasons tonight that the church of our Lord is in disarray

all over this country is because of the fact that people have not

been content to accept, to believe, to practice the doctrine that was

first spoken by the Lord, given to the apostles, reinforced by the

Holy Spirit. They're not satisfied with that. Almost every week I

come in contact with somebody that wants to say 'well that was back

then; times have changed; things are different now.' They are??????

Not really - unless you're talking about how we get from one place

to another or maybe the kinds of clothing we wear. They are designed

a little differently and most instances a little more comfortable,

maybe, than the clothes people wore in the olden days. But the real

problem that has plagued man throughout his existence hasn't changed.

The number one problem that man has is THE SIN PROBLEM. That's the

same problem he had in the first century - the very same problem.

Because that problem was so bad, the Son of God had to die of

Calvary to provide hope for man. In essence, if the philosophy of

a lot of folks can be believed, man has reached a point now where he

is so smart and so good that the sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary was

just a waste, as far as man today is concerned. But you see, all you

have to do is look around you and see that man HASN'T GOTEN ANY BETTER.

As a matter of fact, evil men and seducers, Paul wrote to Timothy,

will become worse and worse. II Tim. 3:13. Now just turn on your

news any night, from any station, and see how many people have been

murdered that day, see how many places have been robbed, see how many

children have been abused, listen to the news, see how many millions of

people are in bondage to dictators that abuse them, kill them at will.

No, man hasn't changed!!!! His number one problem is still the sin

problem and the only cure for the sin problem is a couple thousand

years old - THAT'S FOUND IN THE GOSPEL, THAT OLD, OLD STORY OF JESUS

AND HIS LOVE.

So maybe what we today, in our modern society and civilization, need

to do is do what Jeremiah encouraged the nation of Judah in his day

to do - 'ask for the old paths, wherein is the good way, and walk

therein' - not just ask for them, not just have them around so we can

pack them up somewhere, but 'WALK THEREIN'. Then somebody comes

back and says 'see there is the problem right there.' It doesn't work.

It doesn't work, because look at the condition the world's in - the

gospel doesn't work. That's not the problem!!!!!

A lot of folks I know and have known over the years would get sick.

They'd go to the doctor, the doctor would prescribe medication,

they'd come home, take a dose, set the rest up in the window and when

they didn't get better immemdiately they'd complain, 'well, that didn't

work. I'll just leave that stuff setting there.' No, he gave them

a PRESCRIPTION. Those doctors have handwriting that is sometime

akin to mine, however, if I understand it, the RX said there were so

many pills to be taken at various times. If I understand the purpose

of a prescription of medication for an illness, the doctor gives what

he thinks will be necessary in order to correct the problem. If he

gave you 30 and you took 1 or 2, then set the rest on the shelf and

said, 'well it doesn't work', that would be like walking down the

street and seeing a child on the sidewalk that's dirty and filthy and

deciding soap doesn't work. The problem is, the soap hasn't come into

contact with the child. All the soap in the world won't help the child

until it's applied.

That's been the problem. It's not that christianity has been tried

and found wanting. It's that real genuine New Testament christianity

is not being tried very often. But it works!!!! It was able to take

one who would put to death christians, who would imprison them,

consent to their death when they were stoned, and turn him into the

apostle to the Gentile world. It could take a rebellious man like

Peter and change him into the individual who would stand on the day

of Pentecost and preach the first gospel sermon. No, it's not that

the gospel has been tired and found wanting; it's that people have not

been willing to stand and 'ask for the old paths and walk in them.'

The church has gone through periods like this before and has always

suffered because that which is popular and pleasant to the ear and

senses is always easier to sell. So time and time again, like Israel

of old and Judah of old, God's people have gotten away from the anchor

that's sure and stedfast. The solution to the problem is to go back

to the Old Paths and walk therein. Those Old Paths are found in the

New Testament. If the doctrine you embrace if newer than that, it's

too new to be of any benefit. If it's older than that, then it was

taken away and nailed to the cross. The Old Paths of which speak

are the doctrine and commandments of Jesus as revealed in the New

Testament.