Sermon notes from Sunday 16 February 2020 pm
Jeremiah 6 verses 16 - 20
"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."
This passage is directed to the nation of Israel. We can imagine a great battle going on. The judgment of God is about to fall on this people. The King of Babylon is about to attack Jerusalem. The is a people swaying on the balance. Similarly we come to this meeting with a battle that is on for the sou of men and women, for your soul and mine. The enemy would seek to damn our souls in a lost and Christless eternity but the Lord took on us our sin on Calvary`s tree. There in his final minutes he could say "it is finished", all we have to do is to enter therein. I wonder have you ever come to the cross of Calvary, trusting him as Saviour and Lord. The Lord gives us a picture of a traveller on his journey. He comes to this part where there are a few roads he can take. He is confused as to which road to take. The Lord tells him to look and see the road he is on. There is a great picture for us as sinners, we were born in sin and in iniquity, on a broad road. Proverbs 16 verse 25 "there is a way that seeemeth right unto man but the end thereof is the way of death." There is a religious way tonight, it accommodates many views, which ever one you want. You could be all right, could have an out and our view, that there is no such thing as God, no place like hell. Your churchianity will not take you into the splendours of heaven. We are really looking for a narrow way, "few there be that find it" Jesus himself said. (Matthew 7 verse 14) The Lord is pointing out 4 things here.
There is a instruction to wait. This is coming from the heart of God himself. "Stand ye in the way". He is saying "wait." He was trying to break into their lives. Somehow we are so busy. People do not have much time. Here are a people who have come to this place. God is saying to them they must take time to assess where they are. Is God saying to you "wait, take time and assess where you are." Remember the story Jesus told of a man who prepared a great supper. Everything was prepared for the great feast. He sent out invitations, "come for all things are now ready." They all cried with one accord, began to give an excuse, note not a reason but an excuse. One man couldn`t come because he had bought a plot of ground and he had to look at it. Another said he had bought a yoke of oxen and had no time. Another one had married a wife and couldn`t come either. Isn`t that what we find with the gospel in this day and age? Men and women don`t have the time for the things of God, don`t have time to close in with his offer of mercy. A man in the New Testament told Paul to come back another time and he would hear him again. People lead busy lives today, even children. There are so many after school activities. Social media and television takes up our time, demands our attention. The Lord says he wants them to wait. Isaiah 1 we read "the oxen knowth his owner, the ass his masters crib but Israel doth not know my people, do not consider." Will you take time to stop and consider your later end? The one who was sinless, pure. Will you take time to consider why he died? Why he left his father`s heavenly home and was sent down into this world? We are on our way to a lost sinners hell. God took the very best he could offer and sent his son down into the world. Have you taken him as Saviour? Do you know him in your heart? You are the only one who can say whether you are saved or not. In the Old Testament the Children of Israel came out of bondage and slavery. They were to establish the Lord`s house but they got complacent. The Lord said through the prophet "its time to consider your ways."
An instruction to watch. Watch for the direction they were to take. A picture that shows confusion. God knew they needed an instruction. The course they were on - the judgment was about to fall. The course they were on would bring disaster. "Ask for the old paths." What would they do? Bring blessing to their soul. In the book of Chronicles chapter 7 verse 14 "if my people that are called by my name and humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then will I hear their prayer." There is the old path. God said to come to old paths which were repentance and humility, believing and trusting. There is no other way to heaven. You have to come to God as a humble child. You have to turn from your sin, give your sin up and come to the Lord. He takes you in. We are living in a new era when we think differently. God hasn`t changed, he saves in the same way. Remember the promise given at his birth "thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sin." (Matthew 1 verse 21) Notice not in their sin but from their sin. God sent Jeremiah to stand in the gate of the city. He could see the sin in that nation, listened to false prophets. Jeremiah all the time pointed back to the old pathways. John the Baptist said "behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." (John 1 verse 29) He was pointing to Christ himself, he is the one who would die for their sins. Has he borne your sin? Have you allowed him to take away your sin? Matthew 7 verse 14 be careful the gate is narrow. The devil has many directions, the cost of discipleship is not a few meetings here and there but what is the real cost? Taking the name of Christ and saying "I am saved". Jesus said "if any man will take up his cross, deny himself." The cost is - how does Jesus want me to live my life? In Judges we read "every man did that which was right in his own eyes." God wants us to follow him. The Lord said wait and he says to watch. Jeremiah speaks of his own ministry. Jeremiah 25 verse 3. For 23 years I have stood to warn you, I have risen early in the morning, told you to turn back to the old paths.
The third instruction was to walk therein. Are you walking with Christ tonight? Are you saved tonight? Walking with him? The traveller has stopped and is examining every pointer available, the signposts that are available to him. This is a picture of a man waiting, he is watching for someone to come to tell him the direction he should go. There is a direction to follow. Are you saved tonight? Walking with the Lord? Remember Matthew sitting at the seat of custom when Jesus walked past him. Jesus said "follow me". Matthew arose and followed after him. In Acts 16 Jesus showed the guard his need of salvation. Paul told him to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and he would be saved. He brought them to his own home to bring his family into God`s family too. Bartimaeus on the road "followed after Jesus". (Mark 10 verse 52) Are you saved? Are you studying the word? Are you in the prayer meeting? Are you out giving out invitations, talking to people about the Lord or is it one off on Sunday? The Lord says to wait, to watch and to walk. You have come to that place on the journey and you are not saved. The Lord says it is time to consider your ways.
An instruction that is wasted - verse 16 "but they said we will not walk therein." We will not do it. Verse 17 "we will not hearken." We see this great instruction coming from the heart of God. What do we say tonight - no - even if it means the very blessing of God on their soul because not prepared to do as God asks. God wants your all tonight. Jeremiah 6 this instruction has fallen on deaf ears. Is this instruction wasted on you? The keeper of a cemetery had his home inside the gates of the cemetery. Someone said to him one day "does it not bother you watching the hearse going in and out on a daily basis?" He replied "at the beginning it caused me sleepless nights. Sometimes there are big coffins, others are small. Sometimes I would get up in the middle of night but it doesn`t bother me now. I have got used to it." For many sitting in gospel meetings, have heard the gospel preached time after time to come unto Christ, to surrender their all. Time after time they have walked away. They have said no. It hasn`t bothered them. The old paths they will bring blessing to your soul. It will mean an acknowledgement of your sin. Come to the cross and repent of your sin, trust him as Saviour and Lord.
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