Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.
The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look
us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this
message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
Jeremiah chapter #6 is what we're going to do tonight in the
Word of God. And just as the Lord led and
just in preparation and those types of things.
I don't know about you, I'm not always big on how to messages.
How do you do certain things? I, I try to just preach the
concepts of God just as we find them in the Word of God.
But thank the Lord that the word of God doesn't just tell us to
do things. It also tells us how to do
things. Aren't you glad for that?
That the Word of God just doesn't tell us to do something
and leave you to wonder how on earth is this supposed to get
done? But it also tells us how to do
those very things of which God commands us to do and so.
Maybe you were here this morning and we were preaching on the
fact that Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd, that He is the
Good Shepherd. We looked at that this morning
and we talked about how once we're believers, we need to
continue to listen to the Good Shepherd, Amen.
That we don't just want the Good Shepherd to lay down His life so
we have a home in heaven and then ignore Him while we're here
on earth. That's not His design, but
rather were to follow His leadership every day of our
lives. But maybe you get to the point
where you were hearing the message this morning.
OK, you need to listen to the Lord.
You need to follow his leadership.
And here's the question, how do we do it?
OK, I want to listen to the Lord, OK?
I want to do what He tells me to do.
But how do I know that I can discern the very will of the
Lord? So the title of my message
tonight is this. Don't be embarrassed to ask for
directions. Don't be embarrassed to ask for
directs. I'm so glad now that we have GPS
that we don't have to stop at the gas station anymore.
And asked her. Actually, most of us men did not
stop at the gas station. We just argue with our wives
about it and then went and got lost anyway.
That's normally what took place, and I remember when I was a kid,
this happened to us on one specific.
Occasion where we're trying to go to a beach in the Saint
Petersburg area called Fort DeSoto.
And my dad and my mom, me, which is a small family, I was an only
child. And we're going to go out to
Fort DeSoto. This is a big deal.
And I remember packing up, getting ready and go in and we
could not find this place for love or money.
It's just like it didn't even exist.
And my mom and my dad were arguing, you should pull over.
You should ask somebody. No, we don't.
I'm going to find it. Can I tell you I still don't
know Ford, DeSoto Whiz. All these years later?
We never did find it. We just turned around and drove
home because we didn't want to ask for directions.
Now in the Christian life, because I think that many of us
have known the Lord for at least a little bit.
Now there's some here that are younger in the faith as well,
But we do get to that place where we talked about this
morning that we want to follow our own horse sense because we
have this understanding. I live life a little bit.
There's some things that I have learned along the way.
And by the way, it's good to accumulate knowledge and it's
good to accumulate wisdom. There's nothing wrong with that.
But the problem is most of the time we have not exactly horse
sense, but we have sheep sense, don't we?
And that we don't do that which God has called us to do.
So how do we get directions from the Lord to know about the
difficult issues of life? We have questions.
Perhaps something like this? Is it sin or not to partake?
In this behavior is it sin or not?
What about this? Should I be going in this
direction or not? Should I make this big decision
or not? Now you can ask me.
I can help you I. Had someone just recently, not
that long ago said pastor call me up pastor, should I buy this
new car? And I'll tell you in that moment
as I was asked that question, 1000 thoughts went through my
mind and one of them was this and this get repoed.
It's my fault. And so I want to be careful in
how I answer this. And so I gave some biblical
counts on biblical wisdom. But really I said this, you got
to pray for this on your own. And I'm glad to pray for this
with you that God would give you what you need, but I'm not going
to tell you whether you buy it or not.
And every month as you're at the end of the month and you're
trying to write out that check and think why a pastor tell me
to buy this car? I don't want that on my account
and you don't want me to have that on my account.
So where do we get direction then?
How do we know about the issues of life when we need to make
those big decisions or when there's complex and confusing
things that we're not sure whether we should be
participating or partaking in this issue or not?
So Jeremiah chapter 6, why don't you go ahead and stand for the
reading God word. Jeremiah chapter #6 I don't
know, brother. Yeah, if you could.
Thank you, Anthony. You read my mind there.
Jeremiah chapter 6. That's the stuff right there.
All right, But don't block the wind.
So we got to get some air flow too.
So Jeremiah chapter #6 and let's begin in verse #9.
They'll say at the Lord of hosts they shall thoroughly or
throughly rather glean the remnant of Israel's a vine, turn
back thine hand as a great gatherer in the baskets.
To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear?
Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, that they cannot
hearken. Behold, the word of the Lord is
unto them a reproach. They have no delight in it,
therefore. I am full.
Of the fury of the Lord I am withholding, or by the weary the
holding in, I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and
upon the assembly. Of young men.
Together, for even the husband with the wife shall be taken the
age with him that is full of days, and their houses shall be
turned unto others with their fields and wives together.
For I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the
land. Say it the Lord just in summary
here. When you don't listen to the
word of the Lord, there are real consequences.
When you decide to go your own way.
Don't think just because you've gotten a play with it for a day
or a week or a month or a year or 12 years.
Don't think that you can go your own way and that God will sit
idly by because that's not what takes place.
And God is putting that judgement upon the people of
Israel here. In fact, that's really the theme
of the book of Jeremiah in general.
God's judgements coming the people of Israel.
Don't want to hear it? They persecute Jeremiah for
preaching it. That's Jeremiah in a nutshell.
Verse #13 for. From the least of them, even
unto the greatest of them, everyone is.
Given to covetousness and from the.
Prophet, even under the priest everyone deal with falsely.
Now you don't need to know Hebrew to know this.
Everyone is everyone. Verse #14 They have healed also
the heart 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 shame,
neither could they blush. Therefore they shall fall among
them that fall. At the time that I visit them,
they shall be cast down, saved 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 you shall find rest for your souls.
But they said. We will not walk therein also.
I set Watchmen over you saying, hearken to the sound of the
trumpet. But they said we will not
hearken God in his love and his mercy and his grace.
The people of Israel sent the man named Jeremiah along with a
lot of other prophets that were trying to get them back on the
straight and narrow. And what do they say?
We will not listen. I don't know about you, but I
don't want to be that man. I don't want to be the one that
says I'll do it my own way because the consequences are
dire. So don't be embarrassed to ask
for directions. And we'll look at what that
means here tonight is God gives us, I believe, the outline here
from verse #16 why don't you be seated as we pray together?
Heavenly Father, do thank you for this night.
And I believe this is an important message.
And I believe every time I stand behind the pulpit, it's
important because it's your word.
But I do pray to your help this evening.
There's some folks that have to make decisions in their lives,
some big, some small, maybe some seemingly small that will turn
into big decisions. I don't know.
There's some here that are grappling with certain
activities. They're wondering, is this
sinful or not? What?
What do I need to do? I pray that you'd help us to
listen to your voice this evening, that we understand that
Christ is the Good Shepherd, but what does it mean to listen to
the voice of the Good Shepherd? So help us as we determine these
things tonight from your word and we ask it in Jesus name,
Amen. Well, as Jeremiah's preaching
ministry begins, he. Is going to find out that the
people of Israel have a great desire to say that they want to
hear the word of God. They just don't actually want to
hear the word of God. No, no, they, they get to this
place where they say that they love hearing the word of God.
But when Jeremiah gives the word that they don't want to hear,
they don't like it. And so because of that, there
are hirelings. Because of that, there are these
false teachers who as it says in verse #14 they have healed.
Also the hurt of the daughter of my people will slightly say
peace, Peace when there is no peace.
By the way, there's a lot of that preaching out there today
and so-called Christianity where they don't want to call out sin.
They don't want to call out unrighteousness.
They just want to go with the flow and they don't want
anything to be upset because they don't want the membership
to go down. They don't want the tithes and
offerings to go down. And So what do they do?
They give what the Bible would call an ear tickling message.
What is that? It's just we want you to feel
good about yourself. We want you to be able to be
inspired by. We don't actually want you to be
changed in conformity to the image of an almighty God.
And so there were these false prophets who were out there that
were doing what they were saying, all these things to make
people feel better. But honestly, the people of
Israel, they need to feel worse. You say, well, why do they need
to feel worse? Because they were in sin and
they needed to feel, well, conviction and godly sorrow
about their sin. Now, it's not my desire anytime
I preach here at Liberty Baptist Church to make you feel bad when
you leave. However, if you're in sin, you
ought to feel a little bad when the preaching of the Word of God
comes down. No, I'm not aiming at you.
I'm not looking to take you down or anything like that this
evening. I have no desire in my heart to
do that. But at the same time, if I make
you inspired and you're still in sin and you leave, woe to you,
but woe to me as well. Because I haven't given the word
of God straight and true, you ought to feel a little
uncomfortable if you are in sin and refuse to conform to an
almighty God. And this is what's going on.
And Jeremiah's going to preach. And the more he preaches, the
more they persecute him. And the more he preaches, the
more they persecute him. And things go from bad to worse
to worse. But yet God in his patience,
continues to try to work with the people of Israel.
It always amazes me when people talk about how judgmental God is
and how. Angry God is in the Old
Testament. Do we see God's vengeance in the
Old Testament? Certainly.
By the way. We see in the New Testament too,
by the way, just read the Book of Revelation if you're not sure
where to find that, Amen. But I will tell you this, that
you cannot get away in the Old Testament from the very grace,
the great grace and mercy of the Lord.
You have to go past Genesis chapter 6 and Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord, and certainly here this is the case.
Look at verse #8 It says, be thou instructed, O Jerusalem,
lest my soul depart from thee, lest I make thee desolate, a
land not inhabited. What is he saying?
I'm continuing to instruct you. Even though everyone of you has
gone away from me. I'll continue to instruct you.
Verse #17 also, I said a watchman over you, saying,
hearken to the sound of the trumpet.
He's continuing to send the preachers, ironically enough, if
you go through the book of Jeremiah, you'll find often time
these preachers, these priests, these prophets are called
shepherds. And think about the Good
Shepherd as we learned about him here this morning, that these
men were supposed to be called to be shepherds.
Most of them though were hirelings.
Most of them were given those ear tickling messages telling
people what they wanted to hear but completely avoiding the fact
of the sin of the people of Israel.
They were at a crossroads. There was a couple different
ways they could go. They needed to learn what was
good and what was right. Verse #16 lays out for us here
tonight in a similar way what to do when we're standing at the
crossroads. Now I'm not saying that you are
in the same. Position as the people of Israel
this evening. I'm not saying that you're
sending iniquities or even to that which those of the people
of Israel did as they were pushing God away, but God was
trying to get a hold of them. And he said there's a couple
different ways you can go here and you need to pay attention.
And God gives us the outline. I believe here.
And I say that specifically because you hear me often say
here at Liberty Baptist Church that the best outlines are the
ones that God gives us right from the Bible.
There's 4 action words that we find here in verse #16 that are
very helpful for us for what we need to do.
We ask directions. I'd encourage you tonight, just
circle these words in your Bible as we go along.
Because I believe there will be a help to you.
The first this evening is this number one, we're to stand.
We're to stand. Look again at verse #16.
Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways and see.
And really you can take stand and see together.
But I really want to take this idea of standing here as much as
seeing, because standing means this.
You're not continuing on. We know that because walk is
going to come later, but really you're to stop and you're to
stand. And if I could add a word, I
don't believe I'm adding to the word of God, that I think it
gives the connotation of what's being spoken of here.
You are to stand and you are to observe.
When you were at the crossroads, you say, well, where do you see
that we're at a crossroads? Well, it's pretty simple.
It says in verse #16 Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways
that means there's well more than one way now we.
Take for granted today, the way to go is often pretty easy,
isn't it? One, we have GPS.
Two, we have the fact that we have a bunch of paved roads with
signs on them. You want to go to the Cape?
You can find a sign that tell you to go to Cape.
You want to go to Boston? There's a sign that tells you
how to go to Boston. You want to go on Route 128?
Well, that's still confusing. We don't understand why 128 and
all 93 and all those things. It took me about 10 years to
figure out how all those numbers work together.
I still don't know that I understand it all, but in
general the numbers tell you and the paved.
Roads tell you where to go. In that time, paved roads were
very rare. History tells us that some of
the first paved roads were actually found in UR of the
Chaldees, where Abraham would have been from.
Egypt eventually also paved a small number of their roads.
The first real network of paved roads would have been by Rome.
And that's why transit and that's why really the gospel
moved at such a speed that it did, is it was going by land and
by sea, particularly by those great vias, by those great roads
that the Roman government had put together.
But if you were going down on a trip and you were going trying
to figure out which way to go at the time of Jeremiah, would you
have been able to consult with a really good map?
Probably not. Not the way that we would
consider them today. There could have been some
signposts, sure, but how many? Who knows?
Well. Here's what you did if you got
to a crossroads, you had to stop and observe.
And stand and look at those two paths.
Which way were you to go? Well, there would probably be
maybe a newer path and an older path.
Well, you say, how is that? Well, we're going to see that a
little bit later here in the text.
How do we know the older path? Well, it's the one that's been
walked on more. It's the one that's been trodden
on more. It's the one that more people
have gone down, but there's also a newer path.
What is that? That is the path that has not
been trodden down more. And so how do you know if you're
at this crossroads? Which way are you supposed to
go? Well, you are to stand.
You were to observe, you were to look at that, you were to
ponder, which way am I to go next?
A lot of us, when it comes to Christian life, when we get to a
crossroads, you know what we do? We plow ahead.
We just go by whatever seems right, and we keep plugging
away. But there's a problem.
But when you get to that crossroads, before you better do
anything, you stop and you observe what's in front of me.
Let me look on this way. Let me look on that way.
Those old warm paths can tell a story.
We have a town forest here in Easton, not one paved path on
it. You know what it is?
Probably a couple 100 years of people just walking down the
right path. Now you go and not paying
attention, as I have in the past.
I end up in someone's backyard once.
But why? Because I apparently got to a
crossroads somewhere and wasn't actually paying attention.
Oh, I know what I'm doing. I can figure this out.
I can go by my own. Wits and I almost got myself
shot because I ended up in someone's backyard, not paying
attention, not observing. Stand ye in the way and see.
Say, well, there's a couple paths, which one should I take?
Well, there's a well worn path friend, a path that we can look
at that's been trodden on by Jesus Christ that's 2000 years
old. Of course, we know that our
faith goes far beyond that, but just if we consider Jesus Christ
the Good Shepherd, there's a path that millions upon millions
of our Christian brethren over 2 millennia have walked.
You know where we need to walk? Walk on that old path because
there's a lot of new paths that are out there today, aren't
there? There's a lot of.
Newfangled ways that are out there, that are tantalizing,
that seem right, that grab at the senses, that effect
sometimes grabs you by the collar and wanting to tell you
which way to go. But it's not about just taking
the new path. It's not just about taking the
exciting path. Know what do we need to do?
We need to go on those paths that are good, that are right,
that are God ordained. And sometimes it takes a moment
to stop and observe to know which way to go.
There's a lot of difficulty in certain things to know which way
to go, whether it's the issues of of sin and righteousness or
whether it's the issue of just. Trying to determine direction in
our lives, we sometimes need to stop and observe.
Hold your place there. Put your rib in there.
Go to Leviticus chapter 13 very quickly.
Leviticus chapter #13. Say, pastor, do we follow the
trends here at Liberty Baptist Church?
Well, if the trend is not having air conditioning, yes, that we
do follow the trend. No, I'm just kidding.
We don't. We don't think that's the trend.
I think that's the opposite. Do we follow the trends here?
Not often. And I'm not saying that every
trend that comes along is wrong, because just because something
is trendy doesn't mean. That it's wrong in and of
itself. But I will say this, when you
come to Liberty Baptist Church, we're not looking to be trendy.
We're not necessarily looking to be old fashioned in and of
itself. We'll talk more about that in a
moment. What we are looking to be is
timeless. Well, what's timeless?
The word of God that you have in front of you, that this is what
we want to honor, that we're not chasing this fad and that fad,
this church growth. Guru and that church growth Guru
that we're not trying to add the elements of the world, the
elements of the world's music, the elements of the world's
fleshliness. To be able.
To add that here, to add a little bit of quote sizzle to
the steak, no, there's enough meat that we have in the word of
God that if we just present it good and right to those that are
here, that God can bless it and God can honor it.
That we don't need to incorporate the world, but it
sometimes. Takes a little bit to stop and
look and observe. Is this right or not?
There were churches. That asked themselves 100 some
years ago, is it right to have a piano in church?
And we laugh at that. Now I've heard churches say, is
it right to have a television in church?
That could be kind of trendy, couldn't it?
There's churches that have asked themselves, is it right to have
chairs in church? Now before you think I'm being
weird about it, I'm talking about the fact that they used to
have those old. Fashioned pews you know what I'm
talking about the ones that you're back would feel until the
next Sunday and then we got these chairs here and there'll
be some that would say we're. Compromisers for having these
chairs out. Here.
So the question is, well, how do we know that something is trendy
and we're just following the trends for the sake of it?
And I'm not just talking about church, I'm talking about your
life as well. Because there's a lot of other
stuff that's out there right now, isn't there?
New apps that'll come out on your phone?
Is this something you should get on board?
Well, the Bible doesn't talk about it specifically because
the Bible doesn't talk about apps.
But the Bible does talk a lot about discernment.
There's a lot of that that's out there today.
What do we do? Well, Leviticus, chapter 13,
verse #1 it says this. And the Lord spake unto Moses
and Aaron, saying, When a man. Shall have in the skin of his
flesh a rising, a scab, a bright spot, and it be in the skin of
his flesh like the plague of leprosy.
Then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of
the sons, the priest. Now stop.
Right there is this text saying that the man who presents with
the scab, the rising in the flesh of the bright spot, does
it say that he has leprosy? It does not.
It says that it looks. Like leprosy.
This is important. What is leprosy?
A picture of in the word of God. See it every single time.
Thanks Jay. So it is a picture of sin in the
word of God. But there are sometimes that
things pop up in our life and immediately we're not sure if
it's simple or not. I don't know if I should be
participating this or not. I never heard of this television
show. I don't know about this movie.
I don't know about this app. I don't know about this past
time. I don't know about this.
It seems like it could be sin, but maybe it's not.
Well, what do we do? I know.
Ask Pastor. Well, I'll be glad to counsel
you, but I. Can't tell you why, can't tell
you what to do. But you I'd rather do not be the
priest. Your home.
No, you say. You talk about Catholic priest.
No, I'm talking about a biblical priest.
If you're a man in your home, by the way, God has called you to
be able to be the leader of your home.
I'll be glad to help you and be a helper of your joy.
But I'm not going to tell you your family shouldn't be doing
this. Your family shouldn't be doing
that. You know that turns into
Pharisee ISM. I'm glad to be able to tell you
what the. Word of God says when it's
clear, and I'm glad to pray about you when there's things
that there's principles that we need to apply, but it looks like
sin, So what do we do? It says in the priest verse 3
shall look upon the plague in the skin of the flesh and when
the hair of the plague is turned white, the plague inside of be
deeper than the skin of his flesh.
If it is a plague of leprosy, then the priest shall look upon
him, pronounce him unclean. If the bright spot be white in
the skin of his flesh and sight be not deeper than the skin and
the hair thereof be not turn white, then the priest shall
shut him up. That had to plague 7 days.
So there are sometimes it's cut and dry and the priest says
that's leprosy. There are other times the priest
says, I'm not sure. And what is it required?
4 letter word? TIME, time, observation.
Yeah. You know what's interesting?
When this man is being observed, you know what he doesn't do?
He doesn't go out and mix it up with everybody else.
He stays isolated while you're trying to get the discernment of
the Lord about the issues of life.
That doesn't mean you just keep going ahead your own way and
say, well, Lord, just go ahead and stop me if you don't want me
to do it. I've heard people say this.
I'm going to keep going. If the Lord wants to close the
door, he will. And I understand that thought
process. But that can be a very dangerous
way to look at the Christian life that is tempting the Lord
if you're not careful. This didn't say, well, we'll go
out and play in traffic if you might have leprosy.
And in seven days, if you happen to have it, then you'll be
isolated. No, it's the opposite.
And then what happened if it didn't look like leprosy?
Well, verse 5, the priest shall look on him the 7th day, and
behold of the plague in his sight.
Be at a stay in the plague spread, not in the skin.
Then the priest shall shut him up 7 days more.
For what observation stand, look at the ways.
The priest shall look. On him again the 7th day and
behold of the plague be somewhat dark.
The plague spread not in the skin.
The priest shall pronounce him clean.
It is but a scab. And he shall wash his clothes
and be clean. Could you imagine going through
all that and the priest says that's just a scab?
That's pretty tough, isn't it? It's like I.
Lost 14 days of my life. I was in isolation, but it was
for his safety and it was for everyone's safety to stop and
observe. If I see far too often the
Christian life is the spiritual mentality of shoot 1st and ask
questions later. I'm going to do what I want to
do. And Lord, if you want to stop
me, you're big enough to stop me.
And that is exactly opposite of what the Word of God teaches us.
When you were at the ways, what do you do?
Stand, look at them. There are two different ways.
Now what do we need to do beyond that, not just observe a go back
to Jeremiah chapter #6 if you would, but it says and the Lords
and thus sayeth the Lord standing in the ways.
That's the first that I've circled.
You could have. See along that.
I believe that goes along with standing and observing.
But then the next one is the word ask.
First you stand and then you ask.
Once you observe the 2 past, you observe that one is old and that
one is new. What are you to do?
You are to ask for the old path. Now.
Why are you asking for the old path?
Because it is the one that has been well trodden.
It is the one that many have gone on before.
It is the one that is reliable. This is New England.
Everybody's got a shortcut. Everybody's got a way to get
somewhere. And most of the time when people
tell you something like that, it makes it twice as hard to get
where you're going. I remember Pastor Bob Lewis,
he's been here before, several years ago.
He's evangelist now. Actually, he's a Pastor N
Tiverton. Helping that church as it
recovers. But he told me before I came to
New England, he said, brother Adam, you need to know
everybody's got a shortcut in New England.
He says you just figure out where you're going and you go
that way. And I found out that for the
most part, that's pretty true. Actually, most of the time I pay
attention to GPS more than anything.
But that's the idea is that is that you need to ask once you
observe, you need to ask for the one that's good and right.
There's a lot of spiritual shortcuts that are out there
today. There's a lot of people who tell
you that there are ways to get close to God without praying,
without reading your Bible, without having a daily walk with
God. They're snake oil salesman.
You know what they are? Ear ticklers.
There's a lot of people who say this holiness doesn't matter
anymore. Live the way you want.
God's grace is so sufficient that you can do whatever you
want and it doesn't matter. We live in the New Testament
era, Pastor, and anyone who talks about holiness and anyone
talks about righteousness is nothing more than a.
Pharisee. That's a different path that we
don't need to be asking for. Pastor, I can do what I want, I
can say what I want, I can drink what I want.
I can put into my body what I want.
I want. I can look at what I want.
Do you know that I'm a Christian and that in fact that you would
say that I that I have to follow some rules from the Old
Testament? Don't you realize that New
Testament is all about grace and my.
Answer that would be with the New Testament is all about
Jesus, just like the Old Testament is about Jesus and we
are to honor Jesus and glorify him.
That mankind's first and foremost responsibility is that
whether we eat or drink or whatsoever we do give all to the
glory to God. First Corinthians chapter #10 So
it's really not about what you think or what you want.
What do we need to do? Ask for the old paths.
Now here, here's here's where it's important for us tonight.
Independent Baptists are often called old fashioned.
I don't know if you've been around Independent Baptist for a
while. If you've been around Liberty
Baptist Church, you have. But if you've been around other
Independent Baptist churches, oftentimes we are called old
fashioned. Why is that?
A lot of times it's because of the standards of which we hold,
the fact that we preach the righteousness of the Word of
God, that these are not issues you're going to hear proclaimed
at a lot of churches today. And because of that we are
called old fashioned. But when it talks about that, we
are to ask. For the old paths.
It's not talking about being old fashioned just for the sake of
being old fashioned. If that was the case, guys, we'd
come here tonight with bell bottom suits.
You know that's old fashioned, right?
Yeah. We come here tonight.
You know, we have some. What's old is new, right?
Amen. It's coming back.
No, I hope not. I don't want to wear that.
But we could just have old fashioned thing, you know, shag
carpet here on the ground. Yeah, I mean, think of.
All the things we could do, wood paneling on the walls.
These are the thing that's old fashioned is pastor is that we
need, we got to be old fashioned in everything that we do.
And the answer is that it's not. That we're looking to do
something old fashioned for the sake of being old fashioned, but
we're looking at that which is old, that which is timeless
because we are not following the trends as to what we want to do
for ourselves. But we ask ourselves, Lord, what
would you have me to do in my life?
And that's those old fashioned thing that you could do.
The Old Paths isn't just being 50 years older than the latest
religious movement. Being Old Paths says I'm going
to follow that which works. And that works is the word of
God. Here's what you need to do.
Ask for it. Ask for it.
You hear those commercials where they have this product and
they'll say something like this. Ask for it by name.
What are they saying? They're saying you go to your
local grocery, you go to your local retailer, you ask for it
because you are so sure that this is going to work in your
life. Whatever the product is that you
are demanding that the people at that store carry that product
because you need it in your life.
And nowadays we just order on Amazon and that's all that
matters. Doesn't have to ask anybody for
it. But when it comes the old paths,
you need to be asking for it. When it comes to the issues of
life, you'll be asking for God's way, not your own way.
Could we put it this way to tie 2 messages together?
We're asking for the way of the Good Shepherd that we observe.
And we say, whichever way is the way the Lord wants me to go,
this is what I will do. It might take a minute to be
able to determine. It might be a while.
As we saw in Leviticus here just a few moments ago, there's some
things that aren't clear. In fact, a little bit later in
Leviticus 14, it talks about that some of those scabs were
greenish and reddish, meaning that it was hard to be able to
determine at first what it was. But you take some time and
observe, and in the end, you don't ask for the thing that's
leprous. You ask for the thing that's
clean. And that's what we were to do.
We're to ask and we're to whether we're to stand and we're
to ask #3 we are to ask for that old path.
Where is the good way? And then what?
Walk there in, walk there, in. It's one thing to know the right
path. It's another thing to well.
Do it. Did we talk?
About this from First Corinthians 5 that we're to have
both truth and sincerity, meaning this that you are to
walk in that truth. What good is it if we go to an
independent? Baptist Church or or a Bible
preaching church, whatever it may be, where the Bible is
boldly proclaimed. You receive it, and you walk out
and live your own way. What good have we done?
What purpose have we accomplished?
You observe you. Ask and then you walk in it.
You don't say, oh, that is the good way.
But you know, I'd prefer this way.
We laugh. How many people go to church and
do this? Hey, man, Preacher.
Keep going, preacher. You got a preacher.
It's hot in here, Preacher. You'll get the last one I just
added in, but yeah, it's just. Keep going, Preacher, keep
going. Keep going.
And they get home and say, well, never mind, I guess I'll keep
doing this. I keep going my own way.
Well, I know I need some direction in my life, but I'll
figure it out. But over here, it's go,
preacher, go. In fact, you might even get
upset if a church deviates from the truth, which, by the way,
you should. But then you're not upset at
yourself if you deviate from the truth of which you expect to be
preached at the church. It's crazy, but it's also.
Our human flesh that we end up expecting more out of others
than we do ourselves. So what do we need to do?
Well, you observe. You stand there, you ask, for
the old paths that you walk in that path as a church.
I don't want to just be known as the church that stands for
truth. I'll be the church that walks in
that truth because there's people out there that need us to
walk in that truth. There's people that that need
help from addictions that need to us to walk in that truth.
There's people that are in the prisons.
That need us to walk in that truth.
There's people in this community, $1,000,000 houses
that need us to walk in this truth.
There are people that we meet in the grocery store that used to
walk in this truth. It's not enough to just have a
badge on our chest that says I belong to Liberty Baptist
Church. Here's a track, come see us
sometime. Walk there in and live it.
Don't just demand of me. And I'm not talking about
anybody that said anything to me, but I'm just saying in
general, the idea of demanding of the preacher, demanding of
the church, well, you better stand for the truth.
Well, you better stand for the truth and walk therein, because
what you expect of me is right, and it's real.
And woe on me if I get in your face about the word of God and I
live like the devil the rest of the week.
But the same should be said for everybody in the church that we
ought to walk therein. So what do we do with a Good
Shepherd? Well, it sounds just about
standing and observing. We got to we got to get walking
when it's time. It's one thing to academically
know which way is right, but then you get to a place where
you got to get to stepping. Romans 64 Therefore we are
buried with him by baptism into death.
That like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of
the Father. Even so, also, we should walk in
newness of life. That's why every time I baptize
someone, we say we're buried in the likeness of His death,
raised in the likeness of his resurrection, to walk in newness
of life. Where does that phrase come
from? I'm not reciting the Bible.
The Bible doesn't tell us exactly what we need to say when
we baptize. But I like saying that.
Why? Because it's a reminder of what
we're to do when we follow the Lord and believers baptism, we
continue on and walk in that newness of life.
Romans 81 now, therefore, is no condemnation to them which are
in. Christ Jesus, who walk not after
the flesh, but after the Spirit. Second Corinthians 57 We walk by
faith and not by sight. Ephesians 210 We are his
workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God
had before ordained that we should.
Walk in them. What is God predetermined for
you to do in your life? No, no, I'm not talking about
Calvinism or anything like that. What is God predetermined for
you to do in your life? He's predetermined for you once
you are. Saved to be conformed to the
image of Christ. That is his determination for
your life. He has saved you and then not
just say well, enjoy and figure out what you'd like to do and
make your life into whatever you want to be and I'll catch.
Up with you in heaven? No, he's already predetermined
his will for your life that says be conformed in the image of
Christ. First Thessalonians 41 Further
more than we beseech you, brethren, exhort you by the Lord
Jesus, that as we have received of us how you ought to walk and
please God, so you would have bound more and more.
One of my favorite passages comes in 3rd John and then third
John. He says I have no greater joy
than my children walk in truth. He's not talking about his
physical children, he's talking about those of whom he had
invested in. He says I am not just happy that
you know the truth, I'm glad when I watch you walk.
In truth. And what good is it at hearing
the Good Shepherd, if you refuse to walk in his ways, after you
hear His voice, continue to walk in the way of the Good Shepherd.
We stand, we ask, we walk, and then the blessed of all.
Read again, verse 16. Thus say at the Lord, stand ye
in the ways, and see and ask for the old paths, where is a good
way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.
When you actively listen to the direction of the Shepherd, you
will have rest. You know what's interesting?
What did the people say in response?
There? They said we will not walk
therein. They weren't hearing the message
of Jeremiah, by the way, as I mentioned, that's a theme of
Jeremiah. We will not walk therein.
You know what they could have said, and I'm not trying to
change the word of God, but actually accentuating what the
word of God already says. They could have literally said
this. We will not rest, because if
they would not walk, then they will not.
Rest because he says if you go in this right path, you'll have
rest for your souls. They said we will not walk that
way, So what could we also observe from that?
If they're not going to walk that way, then they won't get
the rest. That they were supposed to have.
What has God called us to do? He's called us to be a people of
activity. No doubt.
That we're not to just sit on our blessed assurance until the
day that Christ takes us home and never serve Him, never live
for Him, never do the things that God's called us to do.
No, no, this is not the plan He has for us.
We're to be people of activity. We're supposed to tell people
about Christ. We're supposed to serve.
We're supposed to love. We're supposed to give.
We're supposed to be active people.
But we do those things from a place of rest.
You see, those two don't go together.
Well, the activity is in your body, The rest is in your soul.
Why the rest is in here? Because you are going the way
that God has called you to go. And here's the problem.
There's a lot of churches. They're doing, they're doing,
they're doing, they're doing, they're doing, they're doing,
they're doing. They're doing so much.
And everybody strung out and frazzled.
They want to kill each other. I've seen it before in church.
There's no rest. Why?
Because they have been doing all this activity for God.
But it may just be they haven't been living for God.
Do you know I could I serve God as a pastor and not live a day
for him? I think I just preached a
message a couple weeks ago observing the fact that there's
a pastor that lived about 12 years at least like that.
It's very easy to happen. Why?
Because I have to observe, I have to ask, I have to walk and
only then I can have rest. My satisfaction comes from not
how big or small this church is. My satisfaction comes not from
how much offering we have or we don't have my My satisfaction
does not come from how many people are saved or not on a
weekly basis. My satisfaction must start from
this place and this place only. I will walk in your way, Lord,
and as I do, then I have rest. And wherever I am, I'll be OK
Whatsoever state I am, Paul said I'll be content.
By the way, it's not talking about states as in California or
Washington or Florida, but it says, Paul says, I know how to
be a base, I know how to abound. I've gained and I've lost.
But he said this wherever I am, I can be content.
As he wrote that in prison. How could he do that?
Because he came from a place of rest.
He was walking the old path. No, not because he's being old
fashioned. Not because he was old fashioned
independent Baptist. I'm.
Glad I'm an independent Baptist. I'm not angry about being
independent Baptist. I'm thankful to be an
independent Baptist. But I don't even get my pride.
Pride's not even the right word. I don't get my identity from
being an independent Baptist. I get my identity from resting
in Jesus Christ. So I don't know what you need
help with tonight. I'm going to give.
I can give a story. I could, I could give you a
poem. I could do something like that.
Or we could just get down to brass tacks here in just a few
more moments that we have before everyone gets heat stroke.
OK, it's not that warm, but my tie is a little bit a little
tight. So here's here's what I know.
You all have crossroads in your life.
You have things that you're not sure.
Should I do this or not? Now if it's in the word of God
it says don't do it. Could I help?
You don't do it. If it's in the Bible, it says do
it, do it. I've talked about this before.
You don't need to pray about that.
God's already revealed it to you.
Don't waste time on, don't procrastinate.
But there are some things, as I mentioned and infinitely more
that we come across that we just don't know.
Is this something I should get involved in or not?
Is this something our church should be involved in or not?
And the world will tell you, everybody's doing it.
You got to do it. You're not doing it.
You're not involved. What's the matter with you?
There's so many of those things. Well, just instead of jumping in
headlong, take a beat, observe, put it up to the side a little
bit, see where it's going, see what direction it takes.
The Lord will show you whether it's old paths or not.
And then whether you figure out if it's an old path or a new
path, ask for the old path and walk therein.
And then you'll have rest. So when it comes these issues of
sinfulness, don't ask me for a list of the things you should or
shouldn't do. Don't ask me for a list of the
TV shows you should watch or shouldn't watch.
Don't ask me for a list of websites you should go on or not
go on. Find the mind of the Lord now I,
I help, I help counsel you If you have questions, don't don't
get me wrong, I'll be glad to help counsel you, but you know
where I'm going to take you back here and that's where the
answers are. That's right.
Some of you others have decisions you need to make.
You don't know what the way direction God's calling you in
your life or what God is doing in your life.
And I'm not speaking to anyone specifically.
I just know that in any group where there's five people, this
would be the case, let alone who we have here tonight.
We all have decisions that are big and small.
Some we think are big turn out to be small.
Some we think are small turn out to be big.
Here's what I know. When you want to hear the voice
of the Good Shepherd, here's what you have to do.
Observe, stand, look around, ask for that which is old and right.
Walk there in and then once you do, you will find rest.
I have a friend of mine that I've mentioned before, his name
is Kevin Guchow. He came to immigrated from
Kenya. Their family won an immigration
lottery back and I believe around 1998 they came to the
United States. Hadn't become a citizen yet and
after 911 he thought it was important to join the United
States Marines. He got a citizenship in the
Marine serving about 2004, got the call they was going to Iraq,
came back home, had the opportunity to go to Iraq a
second time. He volunteered to go the second
time. And what's amazing about that
was his father told him son. These are all.
Good Christian people, son, I don't want you to go.
I don't want you to go. It's too dangerous.
And he said this, Dad, I'm just as safe over there in the hands
of God as I am here. In fact, if that's where God
wants me to go, I am safer there than I am in the streets of the
United States of America. So he was a pastor.
He came back home safe and sound.
And believe it or not, he died in 2005.
His amphibious assault vehicle went over an IED outside of
Haditha. And he and I believe 16 other
servicemen all perished immediately.
You say, I got the clippings in my office to be able to show you
one of my best friends in high school.
You say, pastor, you just absolutely contradicted
everything that you were about to say.
And the answer is that God in his sovereignty and purpose had
him, for whatever reason, in the exact place and time he needed
to be. And Kevin was at peace with that
decision. And even though it pained those
who were left behind, there was a understanding that he did
exactly what God called him to do, You know, at his funeral.
It was still very early in the Iraq war.
Not many had died. And so the media was all over
the place. In fact, there was talks of
protests that were supposed to show up that day protesting
against a dead servicemen, which I thought was absolutely
disgusting. Thankfully they didn't show up
and went back under the rock of whence they came from.
But you know, from that service there were, I don't know how
many, but there were several people who trusted Jesus Christ
as their Savior. I'm not saying that's why He
passed away. I'm not God, nor will I try to
pretend that I know the mind of God.
But I do know this, that He followed the Lord and there are
several who He will meet in eternity because he went and did
exactly what God called him to do.
Following God's will doesn't make sense all the time.
It doesn't always track with what we think.
But God's ways are not our ways and you have to know His mind.
Stand, ask, walk and only then will you have rest.
Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of
Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing
to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us
know by contacting us at info@mylibertybaptist.org.
Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,
MA. May the Lord bless you as you
grow in His Word.