Ask For The Old Paths

INTRODUCTION

Today we are looking into the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah was an interesting person. Most of the prophets don’t tell us a lot about their lives, but the book of Jeremiah is almost autobiographical. Jeremiah was appointed as a prophet before he was even born. He never made a convert. He was rejected by his people. He was hated, beaten, put in stocks. He was imprisoned, and charged with being a traitor.

He saw the destruction of Jerusalem and the carrying away of Judah into Babylonian captivity. He was tasked with delivering a hard message to the people. You would think God would pick a hard man for that job, but Jeremiah was a man with a broken heart, we know him as the weeping prophet.

Jeremiah is going to give us some instruction today about taking the old path.

Have you ever taken the old path. Our society is obsessed with the new, the trendy, the latest thing. But sometimes I like to take the old path.

I’m sure you are familiar with the old road known as Route 66, also known as The Mother Road. Perhaps you remember the song “Get your kicks on route 66” first recorded by Nat King Cole in 1946. A few years later, in the early 60’s, Hollywood produced a popular television show entitled “Route 66.”

The Highway that we know as Route 66 was established in 1926 and stretched from Chicago to Santa Monica, California, some 2448 miles. It was the route that a lot of “Okies” took as they fled the dust bowl in route to California during the Great Depression.

It was officially removed from the National Highway System in 1985 after being replaced by various sections of Interstate Highway, but some lengthy stretches of the old pavement still remain today.

I once drove from Oklahoma to Chicago with the goal of travelling as much of the old highway as I could. I saw the round barn in Arcadia, and the blue whale of Catoosa, and scores of old derelict buildings which had once been filling stations and grocery stores which had served travellers along the Mother Road.

There are at least 11 Route 66 museums, two of which are in Oklahoma, and travelling Route 66 is still a nostalgic experience that a lot of people seek after. While working at the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City I have talked to scores of people who told me they were passing through Oklahoma while following the Route 66 tour and some of these visitors were from Germany and Japan and a host of other countries.

There is something about the old paths that can be a comfort. I think part of it is a look back to when times were more innocent and not as complicated, and part of it is a sense of grounding and belonging.

Let’s take a look now at the book of Jeremiah as he contemplates the old road.

Jeremiah 6:16 “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.’”

Of course Jeremiah was written some 600 years before Jesus’ ministry and some people today tend to dismiss the relevance of these Old Testament books, but in those ancient books are a treasure trove of lessons for the Christian today. That’s what the scripture was always meant to be.

First off, it was written for our education. In Romans we see Paul speaking of the the scriptures that he had available to him, we know it today as the Old Testament, but Paul would have just called it The Scriptures.

Romans 15:4 “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

Paul also says it was written for our admonition:

1 Corinthians 10:11 “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction (nouthasia, G3559, admonition, warning), on whom the end of the ages has come.”

One of the many lessons for us from the Old Testament is this one found here in the sixth chapter of Jeremiah. It was a time of religious and social turmoil. The nation of Israel was being pulled in many directions.

We see in the verse that The Lord wanted of offer them rest for their souls. Using the imagery of travelers who have lost their way, the Lord calls for them to:

1) Ask for the Old Paths

In verse sixteen, The Lord makes His plea for them to:

"Stand in by the roads and look"

Whenever you plan a journey from where ever you are to where ever you want to be, you will find there is more than one way to get there. To guide you, you can unfold a map, you can open your map app, you can program your GPS, but you will find many options in planning your journey.

Jeremiah tells us to "Ask for the ancient paths,” because often the 'old way' is the best way.

Do you remember the old way where we said the Lord’s Prayer in school; Do you remember the old way when the church was a place of worship and prayer and not an entertainment venue; Do you remember the old way where most public gatherings opened in a word of prayer? Yes indeed, sometimes the old way is the best way.

The scripture goes on to say "Where the good way is.” Not all paths lead to the 'good way,’ in this case, the old paths led back to the Law of Moses

Jeremiah 7:22-24 “For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. (23) But this command I gave them: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’ (24) But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.”

Jesus made a similar plea as we see in the book of Luke:

Luke 13:24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”

Jesus is telling us that the correct path is not the easy path. I recently had to do some plumbing under my mother’s house. There is only one way to get under there and it is not easy. You have to scrunch down, duck your head, and then kind of back your way into the crawl space. It is not easy, but it is the only way to enter in order to get done what you want to accomplish.

There is only one way to enter that crawlspace, just as there is only one way to The Father:

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.””

The way to salvation is a narrow one, but there are other, broader ways, a person could follow.

Matt 7:13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.”

We get the sense from this verse that most are going to choose the broader, easier way. The way that leads to destruction.

Yet the way Jesus offers is a 'good way'

One that likewise offers rest for our souls - Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

In this case, the way leads back to words of Jesus -

Matthew 11:29 “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

The behavior of those people in Judah so many years ago appears very similar to the behavior of people in our modern world. They have strayed from the ancient path to the side roads.

2) Don’t be lead down the Side Roads

Israel had stumbled, why? because they had forgotten God:

Jeremiah 18:15 “But my people have forgotten me; they make offerings to false gods; they made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient roads, and to walk into side roads, not the highway,”

God had revealed Himself and His will long before. He had established a "highway" for them to follow. He gave them clear instructions of which path to take. Instead, they had turned to many of the side roads.

The same mistakes that they made way back then are still being made today.

Jesus established a "highway" for us to follow which He communicated through His apostles:

Matthew 28:20 “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

And aided by the Holy Spirit:

John 16:12-13 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”

And the disciples were careful to follow what Jesus said:

Acts 2:42 “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

Which the Christians were commanded to follow:

2 Thessalonians 2:15 “So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.”

In popular culture you will hear that there are many pathways to God. The fact is, most of those paths would lead us astray, such as the doctrines of men:

Matthew 15:9 “in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”

Clearly this verse is talking about religious people, people who thing they are worshiping God, but Jesus says they worship in vain. They are following the doctrines of man.

And some follow the philosophies of men:

Colossians 2:8 “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.”

Consider for a moment what you need to do to remember the ancient path. One thing you can do is:

3) Set up Road Markers

This was the advice for Israel, to set up road markers which would direct them back to the right road.

Jeremiah 31:21 ““Set up road markers for yourself; make yourself guideposts; consider well the highway, the road by which you went. Return, O virgin Israel, return to these your cities.”

For them, these road markers and guideposts was the Law of Moses to which they were not to add or take way:

Deuteronomy 4:1-2 “And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.”

And to which they were to teach every generation:

Deuteronomy 4:9 ““Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children—”

The same solution applies to us today, to set up road markers which lead us in the right direction.

For us, these road markers are found in the apostles' doctrine, received as God's Word:

Acts 2:42 “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

1 Thessalonians 2:13 “And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.”

For they contain the doctrine of Christ, without which we cannot have God:

2 John 9 “Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.”

CONCLUSION

Let me ask you today:

Do you desire to have rest for your soul, freedom from sin and freedom from guilt?

Would you like to have peace and tranquility in the midst of turmoil?

The answer is to seek the old path. The path found in Him who lived and died for our sins nearly 2000 years ago. The One Whose doctrine has been faithfully preserved by His disciples in the New Testament.

If you are lost and stumbling around in this present life, the “Ask for the Old Paths” that will lead you to God.