Look For the Old Path by Brother Duke Hansen

         Good morning. The scriptures we will be reading from are going to be mostly from the book of Jeremiah chapter 6. To set up the book of Jeremiah, we need to see what had happened before the writing. After King Josiah had died, Judea had fallen into rampant idolatry. Jeremiah was calling out judgement on Judea for this. Babylon had already conquered Israel as well as Jerusalem. The Babylonians had taken away the youngest and brightest of the Israelites. Jeremiah was the weeping prophet in a broken and desolate country. This book is not what you would call a comfort read. We will be reading from verse 16 of chapter 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 was explaining the why of the dire situation Israel was in after the conquering from Babylon. Jeremiah is telling the people to go back to the old ways. The good ways where their souls could find rest.

        There's beauty in each season, even the seasons which we don't like in our life. It's easy to fall into darkness or to live into the gray. It isn't cool to be in the white.

        We have brought up Shiloh some in messages and the question I want to pose this morning is what does Shiloh mean spiritually as well as physically? We will look back at that in a little bit.

        The first few verses of chapter 6, Judea was gathering all together to rally itself after what had happened to Israel. Let's look at verse 1-5.

        O ye children of Benjamin gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem and blow the trumpet in Te-ko-a, and set up a sign of fire in Beth-hac-ce-rem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.

        2 I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman.

        3 The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed everyone in his place. 

        4 Prepare ye war against her; arise and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! for the goeth away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.

        5 Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces.

        God is asking the children of Benjamin to leave Jerusalem.

        6 For thus hath the Lord of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.

        7 As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness: violence spoil is heard in her; before me continually is grief and wounds.

        8 Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.

        9 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets.

       10 To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.

        When Jeremiah references the uncircumcised is outside the fold. The gentiles separate from the Israelites. They weren't able to hear from the spirit realm. Let's move down to verse 14.

        14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

        15 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.

        You don't feel shame nor condemnation when you commit an abomination. Abomination isn't just merely a sin, it's something horrific to God.

        Going back to the term Shiloh now. If you read 1 Samuel 4, you will read the account of Eli and his 2 wicked sons Hophni and Phineas. There are also the Philistines, the ark of the covenant, a big battle and Shiloh. Shiloh was a city 24 miles north of Jerusalem. You can also find references to Shiloh in Genesis 49:10 along with 30 other references in the Old Testament. Shiloh is best interpreted as messiah. Let's look at verse 30.

        30 Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them.

        The church isn't silver but it's gold. Gold is heated to the point the impurities to be scraped off. Scrape it off rather than turn tail and run to the comforts of the past. A question you need to really meditate upon this morning is if you can't lay your sin down, can you say that you love God?

        This path is not for the weak hearted. There's hope in having a broken and contrite spirit. There's hope in repentance.

        The path requires you first to be drawn to him. The first stage is overcoming sin. It's easy to start sin and hard to stop. We need to learn to be born again. Some people never get out of this cycle. There are those who become, "awake! awake!" in the spirit.

        The old path has a way for mercy, grace, and hope. Thank God if you can feel the pain, suffering, and shame of your convictions. Don't look so dour and down faced. The pain, heartache, suffering is the fuel for your faith. Suffer things in silence rather than retaliate and run your mouth. Revive and encourage yourself. Dig deep in not only the word but in your walk.

        To close let's talk about perfecting patience. A calm on the outside while you battle on the inside. Lay down the world and learn to pick up forgiveness. If you are above the simple sins, you begin to work on iniquity. There's purpose to each step we make on this walk.