T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
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The Old Paths A Sermon Preached by Rev. A.- S. Hunter (Methodist) Florida
Jews were Typical of the Church As a people, the Jews were typical of the church in the Christian dispensation. Christianity is the lineal successor of Judaism. Judaism was of God, and was designed to merge into Christianity. The Jews should have come with it, and become Christian, but would not. They are now alien in the world, because they refused to follow the way marked out for their religion. Christianity has succeeded Judaism, as was intended; and the church under Christian ity, succeeds to the place occupied by the Jews in Judaism. It is this fact which makes the text—and the Old Testa ment generally—applicable now, and in all ages, past and to come. The Christian church, during two or three centuries, was loyal and faithful to her Lord. Christians were persecuted, both by the Jews and pagans. The gospel of Jesus was (and is) a stranger in an alien world, and it was ill treated on all hands. Under such conditions, people did not iden tify themselves with the Christians, except they had ex perienced Christ’s saving power, or were deeply convicted of sin. They knew the consequences of that step, and counted the cost before taking it. Consequently, they us ually proved true,' and their example drew others. Thus did Christianity grow rapidly in numbers and churches were multiplied. In the third century, Constan tine made it the legal religion of the empire. He and many of the people were “converted” in that they accepted it as a form of worship. Most of them were not Scripturally converted from sin unto righteousness by repentance, faith, pardon and the witness of the Spirit. Instead of being a victory for the cross, it was a defeat. Instead of the Rom ans being lifted up to the level of Christ’s teachings, the gospel was adulterated and lowered to the ideas of the people. The net result was a thousand years of “the dark ages,” when all sorts of sin and corruption existed in and by the sanction of the apostate church. This was man’s failure number three. Always there were some who were loyal and true to God and Christ. How ever dark it was, the light never wholly went out. The Protestant Reformation Then came the Protestant Reformation, culminating un der Luther. It was just getting back to the Bible, the gos pel of Christ, apostolic Christianity, which had been buried under formalism and worldliness, the superstitions and corruptions of Rome. The motto of the reformation was; the words of Habakkuk, “The just shall live by faith”- (2:4); which are quoted by Paul three times (Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38). Protestantism spread widely and grew rapidly, having in it the life and power of Divine truth. It gave the people the free,' open Bible, and individual access to God through Christ alone, without priest or confessional. It looked as if, at last, Christianity had come into her own, and would speedily sweep the world. But, for the fourth time, man failed God. Within two centuries, protestantism had de clined into a lifeless formalism. It was less corrupt than Rome, but it had lost the vitality of the Holy Spirit, and could not bring souls to repentance and salvation. The Wesleyan Revival Then came the Weslyan revival in England. It was another return to the Bible and, the gospel as Luther had preached it, and it went a step beyond Luther. The Wes-
“T h u s s a ith Je h o v a h , S ta n d y e in th e w a y s a n d see, a n d a s k fo r th e o ld p a th s , w h e re is th e g o o d w a y ; a n d w a lk th e re in , a n d y e sh a ll find r e s t fo r y o u r s o u ls ; b u t th e y saiid, W e w ill n o t w a lk th e re in .” J e re m ia h 6:16. 0 get the real significance of these words, we need to have in mind the conditions under which they were spoken. Jeremiah lived some six centuries before Christ, and prophesied immediately before and during the Babylonian captivity. It was at the cul mination of Israel’s apostasy, when conditions were about at their worst. Not only did many of the people practice idolatry, but the leaders encouraged it, and false prophets contradicted Jeremiah. He suffered great persecutions be cause of his fidelity to God and the truth, hut nothing could intimidate him or silence his warnings. He was God’s mouthpiece, rebuking a faithless people for their sins. For the Jews, “the old paths” were nothing else than the worship of Jehovah, which He had given them through Moses. That included the moral law, as outlined in the decalog; and the ceremonial law of sacrifices and offerings. In all probability, since idolatry was so openly practiced, the reading of the law and the ritual had gone into discard; and many of the people did not know what the law re quired. Hence, God bade them to “ask for the old paths;” which might include the revival of reading the law, by which they would know what God expected of them. The reply, “We will not walk therein,” was doubtless voiced by the priests and false prophets, and corroborated by the people. Idolatry afforded them greater license and the gratification of their passions, which they were loath to give up. The narrow way of self-denial is never popular, except when the Holy Spirit has shown one the heinous ness of his sins. The broad way of self-indulgence is pre ferred by the natural man. The Beginning of the End Through preceding and contemporary prophets, as well as Jeremiah, God had made known the destruction of Jerusa lem and the captivity of the Jew;s, but they treated it lightly. It was the beginning of the end for them. Dur ing most of the twenty-five centuries since, they have scat tered among all nations, yet a distinct and separate people wherever found, and generally despised and oppressed. They are still God’s chosen people, though temporarily un faithful to Him; with yet unfulfilled prophesies concerning them. God’s plan has not failed nor broken down, but it is working out according to schedule'. Just here is a good place to note that man has ever been a failure, religiously and morally, and has disappointed God. In Eden, we find the original pair, holy and happy in the spiritual image of God. In the exercise of their free moral agency, their power of choice and decision, they heeded the tempter, disobeyed God, lost their purity, be came both guilty in act and corrupt in nature, and were expelled from Eden. That was failure number one. A thousand years later, God wiped the slate clean by the flood, and started the race anew in Noah, a good man. Again man became exceedingly corrupt, which was failure number two. After another millennium, God started a special strain of people from Abraham, through whom He proposed to bless all mankind. As we proceed, let us keep in mind man’s repeated failure, morally and religiously; also that God has never failed man.
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