Jeremiah proclaimed to the children of Judah in Jeremiah 6:16, "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 instructed them to
stand, seek, ask, and walk in the Old Paths, they responded by saying "we will not walk therein."
We proclaim today in the church for members to seek the old paths, but does anyone listen?
Some members of the church take heed to these words. Many others fail to seek these old
paths. The religious world has never embraced God's Word and we can see the effects on the
society we live in and its beginning to affect the thinking of brethren overall.
When we fail to teach what the Bible says or don't allow it to be taught completely it shows the
lack of respect for the Old Paths. Northwestern University School of Education four years ago
(1993) released the results of a questionnaire distributed to 500 ministers of various religious
groups: 69% denied there is a hell, 54% deny there is a devil, 59% affirm there is a heaven, 61%
believe in a judgment day, 92% believe in life after death, but the interesting statistic was this
one--80% believe no one should preach about hell. We are shocked that the religious world no
longer wants to accept the fact there is a hell. We are more shocked when preachers will not
preach on the subject of eternal hell in the church of Christ. They believe in being positive more
than negative. To these preachers there is no room to preach on negative things like sin and hell.
Brethren, this only weakens the message of God and the will to overcome things like sin and
immorality. Many preachers have simply pushed aside the word sin from their language. Others
want to ignore sin and its consequences.
Brethren, when we seek to walk in the old paths, we will confront the wages of sin and error. It
is not always easy, nor is it pleasant, but we must deal with error to keep people from walking in
it (Ephesians 5:11; 1 John 4:1). We as Christians MUST follow the old paths--the Word of God.
The Word of God is our guide in this life (Psalm 119:104). God teaches us to dress modestly, to
talk righteously, and not to be greedy for the things of this world (Ephesians 4:29; Colossians 4:6;
1 Timothy 6:6-11). He instructs us to follow Him. We must deny our self and the world, take up
our cross daily and follow Jesus, to be worthy of Him (Matt. 10:37-38).
Many are shocked to hear sermons that deal with hell, false doctrine, immodesty,
denominationalism, institutionalism, the sponsoring church arrangement, social drinking, dancing,
mixed swimming...etc. However, Paul instructed Timothy to preach the gospel and it would take
care of the specifics, "Preach the Word; be instant in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke,
exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine" (2 Timothy 4:2).
If we fail to teach those things that reprove and rebuke us, then we do a great disservice to the
brethren. Soft preaching causes us not to combat error when it tries to raise its ugly head in the
church. If we are not grounded firmly against error, we will succumb. Positivism softens us to
false teaching where we must be strong. Removing sin from our language can cause people not
to see the condition of their soul or ours as God does (James 1:22-25; Hebrews 4:12-13; Romans
3:23).
If the preaching and teaching are soft, our soul is founded on a weak message, therefore, it will
fall (Matthew 7:24-27). Christians who hear a soft gospel are not able to stand against sin and
cannot have the feeling of guilt, and unless they do, they will drift farther from God. Many
Christians see the effect of this teaching because many brethren are advocating today that
adultery is not wrong (the divorce and remarriage issue promotes this). Others uphold immorality
like social drinking, fornication, covetousness). Jeremiah said to the Jews in Jeremiah 6:15,
"Were they ashamed when they had committed abominations? No, 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." They had weak religious leaders in their day, their word
became wind, and "the word is not in them" (Jeremiah 5:13). It is no wonder they fell away from
God.
We have a responsibility to proclaim "the oracles of God" (1 Pet. 4:11). New Testament preaching disturbed people. It convicted them and demanded something from them. Some turned from their sins and obeyed God (Acts 2:22-41). Others became mad (Matthew 23:1-33; 14:3-4; Acts 7:51-59; 5:28), but the apostles taught the word. We need to preach and to hear sermons on sin. We need to hear sermons on why homosexuality is wrong. We need to hear sermons on why dancing, immodesty, petting and lasciviousness are wrong. We need to preach and hear sermons on why institutionalism and the sponsoring church arrangement are wrong. We need to preach sermons on salvation and baptism. We need to preach sermons on the nature and all-sufficiency of the church. We need to preach on heaven. Elders and churches need to demand this kind of preaching. We need to preach a strong gospel that will convict us and cause us to walk in line with the Savior.