Hiking Trail Series

A few years ago one of my son’s favorite TV shows was “Man vs. Wild”. It featured a guy named Bear Grylls and it was a sort of reality show where this man would be dropped off in an isolated area carrying a knife, a water bottle, some flint (to start a campfire), a waterproof bag, a multi-purpose tool, and even a Bible. Then he would make his way back to civilization.

One of the episodes that caught my attention was when he was dropped off on top of a mountain and had to make his way down to the valley. He told the viewers that one of the things you had to be aware of was that you had to be careful what route you took going DOWN the mountain, because once in a while you might take a likely path and end up in a place you couldn’t get out of. Then you’d be TRAPPED on the mountain with no way out… and perhaps no one to find you. And you’d DIE THERE.

The Bible tells us: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is death.” (Proverbs 14:12) In fact, the Bible says that several times.

And now here in our text today, God tells us to: “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.” Jeremiah 6:16

So God says we need to LOOK for the ancient paths ASK for them! And then WALK in that path. but where are these ancient paths? How do we find them?

Well the ancient path IS THE PATH where God is! The prophet Micah 6:8 said it this way: “What does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? (NKJV)

FIND THE PATH… AND WALK WITH GOD!

In the Bible there were several men in Scripture that walked with God. There was Enoch (Genesis 5:24); Noah (Genesis 6:9); Abraham (Genesis 17:1; Romans 4:12); Isaac (Genesis 48:15); and David (I Kings 9:4). These men all walked with God. They all spent time with Him.

Now, why should we want to do that? Why should we want to spend time walking with God? Well, one reason is that we live in an evil world. Ephesians 5:15-17 tells us “Look carefully HOW YOU WALK, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

You see, we live in an evil world and we’re called to be careful how we walk because we were saved to challenge that evil world. We’ve called to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. But wow do we challenge the evil of this world? Well… we walk with God, and the more time we spend walking with God, the more we’ll start thinking like Him.

Now - this isn’t rocket science… it’s very simple. You can tell if you’ve been spending time with God if you start acting/thinking more… like God does.

James 3:17 tells us “the wisdom that comes from heaven (from God) is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

And how we conduct ourselves will impact the world around us. We live in an evil world - we don’t live in a pure world… so we need to be pure. We don’t live in a peaceful world… so we need to be peacemakers. We don’t live in a considerate world… so we should be considerate. People don’t like to submit to others… so we are called submissive. And lots of folks aren’t merciful and don’t do much good … so God wants US to be merciful and bear good fruit.

WE SHOULD BE THE MODEL OF WHAT IT MEANS TO WALK WITH GOD

ILLUS: There’s an Atheist named Tom Holland who wrote a book called “Dominion.” In his book Holland noted that he realized something about the ancient world. Ancient people were cruel and selfish. They commonly killed their children. For example, the Spartans routinely murdered their “imperfect” children. They and many other cultures treated their slaves as a source of physical pleasure. And the poor and the weak in the ancient world had no rights. AND THAT’S JUST HOW THINGS WERE.

So, how did we get from there to here? How did our culture change so dramatically? Well Holland wrote that it was Christianity that transformed society. Christianity demanded that men control themselves and Christianity prohibited all forms of rape. Christianity revolutionized sex and marriage and confined sexuality to be within the marriage of a male and female. In addition, Christianity elevated women far above what the ancient cultures did. In short, Christians stood in the path of the darkness of this world - and they did that because they chose to walk with God.