The OLD PATHS

"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 ..." (Jeremiah 6:16).

That was Kevin Clark's theme to his sermon last night. He also used Ecclesiastes 1:9, that there is nothing new under the sun. He is a successful lawyer here in town, but preaches a lot, too.

My afternoon bus was late (so many buses breaking down) but the driver got me to the church house at 6:40, with worship starting at 7. The service was over between 8:15 and 8:30.

Kevin doesn't use any technology, no Power Point, etc. It's simply him and his Bible, and he quotes a lot of it, which is the way to be, and he holds everyone's attention even without using the new technology.

He pointed out that when you hear someone say there's a new way of doing things, maybe of interpreting the Bible, he pointed out that the Bible says that the Holy Spirit spoke to men years ago, but that now the Spirit speaks through the apostles and through Christ (Hebrews 1:1-2), and that the Word is settled in Heaven (Psalm 119:89), and that the Christ has not changed (Hebrews 13:8) ... in other words, the Spirit doesn't speak directly to people today, such as someone saying He gave them a new revelation (which usually contradicts what is written) - things like saying that homosexuality is OK, or that remarriage for any reason is OK, or that it's OK to have instrumental music (as well as vocal music) in worship. Some people in Bible times were being deceived in thinking some people even then had a new revelation. But Paul said (Galations 1:6-10) that even if an angel preached something else, that the angel would be cursed!

(In my own study of other religions, they might start out teaching one thing, then a few years later, change it. One example is that the catholic church claims Peter was the head of that church - he was not, yet according to the Bible, Peter was married - Matthew 8:14, yet they said that the pope and priests have to be celibate.)

As to there being nothing new, think about this: the way we do things change, but people are the same. From the beginning, Satan was a liar; Adam didn't stand up to Eve but let her talk him into doing something he knew God had said "don't"; Cain murdered his brother; both Abram and Sarai laughed at God; Rebekkah showed partiality to one of her sons ... and on and on. Ever since time began, there has been lying, murder, partiality, and so on.

I hope to be able to make it to worship this evening, though, as I wrote about the "gold" dust, I'm fighting sinus trouble.