Ron Dunn Podcast - In Praise Of Tradition

Episode Date: July 8, 2020

Ron Dunn begins a new sermon series from Jeremiah

And I want you to open your Bibles this morning to Jeremiah chapter 6. To Jeremiah chapter 6, and I'm going to speak to you today on this subject in praise of tradition. In praise of tradition. That's a bad word, isn't it? But I want to speak a word of praise to tradition or old things. I want to read just at the beginning verses 16 and 17 of Jeremiah chapter 6. We're going to be looking at some other verses in this as we progress, but for the beginning, just verses 16 and 17. 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 you shall

find rest for your souls. But they said, we will not walk therein. Also I set watchmen over you, saying, hearken to the sound of the trumpet, but they said, we will not hearken. Now basically what Jeremiah is saying to the people, he's saying you need to stop. You're at the crossroads. He's saying that you, if you read the context of these chapters, he is saying that you, even though you are the people of God, you have been running away from him. Some have been running deliberately away from him, and some have just been drifting unconsciously from him. And that is true of any of us and of all of us. There are those times when we consciously say, I will not hearken, and I will not obey, and we deliberately and consciously sacrifice our relationship to God.

And there are others of us, I think many more of us, who just unconsciously, without really realizing it, have drifted from that close relationship to God. And so Jeremiah is saying to the people, he's saying, stop, you're at the crossroads. You're rushing headlong into a greater destruction. And he said, stand ye in the ways. And I believe that some of the other translations translate it crossroads, that you stand in the crossroads. And I think the first thing that you and I need to remember is that we need to recognize on occasion like this,

and actually, it's not just on the new year, but it is in a sense every day of our life that we stand at the crossroads. Because every day of our life we have a choice of whether we're going to follow God's way or follow our way or the world's way. And we need to understand that. Because each day is a day of decision. Each day is a day of choice. That's one thing that makes life so difficult, is that you never make a full ultimate decision that decides every day for the rest of your life.

Because every day you decide all over again what are going to be your priorities and where your heart is going to be. So he says, I want you to stand in the ways and see. The idea there is to look around, to examine. See where you are. You know, there's nothing worse than thinking you're somewhere than you're not. I can get lost in an empty closet. I'm like Christopher Columbus.

He didn't know where he was going when he left. He didn't know where he was when he got there. He didn't know where he was going when he left. He didn't know where he was when he got there. And didn't know where he'd been when he got back. And a lot of us are like that. He says, you stop and see, examine, look around. Now there is an introspection that I think is gloomy and not good when we walk around with our fingers on our pulse all the time, making sure we're doing what's right.

But there is a godly introspection and self-examination, an awareness, if you please, of where we are constantly in our walk with God, constantly in our relationship with others. Because, you see, an unexamined life becomes a drifting life. There is nothing in you that will normally drift into the right channels. Have you noticed that all history has a tendency to drift downward? Have you noticed that? The older our country gets, the older our civilization gets, it's not drifting towards better, is it? It's a rule of history that civilizations, societies, cultures, the older they get, the more corrupt they get. Why? Because that is the tendency of human nature. You may start out very conservative, but you drift towards liberality.

Always that is the case. I can remember when I first came to Irving back in 1966, that Irving was a dry town, and that every year we'd have a fight with this issue of being wet or dry. And we would win, and we would win. But every year we would win with a smaller margin than the win before. And we knew that it was just a matter of time until we lost the battle. Why? Because the tendency towards life in nature, the tendency is to degradation. That's why Jesus said, you are the salt of the earth.

Why? Because the earth tends to corrupt. And salt is a preservative. And so if I do not live a life of self-consciousness and examination of where I am, constantly examining myself or being aware of where I am, constantly examining myself or being aware of where I am, I am naturally going to drift downwards. If you leave yourself alone, you are not going to swim up the stream. You are going to float downwards. It always happens. And so he says you need to stand at the waves and examine and see. And then he says, ask for the old past. Demand

is the meaning of the word ask. Demand for the old past. It kind of has the idea of a search, an investigative search, a deliberate determined search, demand for the old paths. And now he goes on to say, where is the good way and walk therein. I want to say a good word today about the old ways. Now, I'm not talking about the good old days. I'm talking about the good old ways. The good old days were probably not as good as we thought they were. Our problem is not that we need to recapture the good old days. Our problem is we need to capture the good old ways. I want to tell you something. The good ways are old. Now, they're not good because they're old.

They're old because they're good, you see. They're as old as God. And I think that one of the things that happens to a church or to a people is we keep saying, remember how it used to be in the old days. And so many times we will try to reproduce the old days. That's not really the problem, you see. It's the old ways. And he says, you demand them and you walk therein. Now, what are the old ways?

In praise of tradition. You know, as I said a moment ago, tradition has become an ugly word, almost a curse word. And I know there are times when I will be engaged in a conversation with somebody of a different persuasion than I. And they will accuse me of believing what I believe because I'm bound to tradition. Personally, I take that as a compliment. But I'm not bound to it because it is traditional. I am bound to it because it's true as I see it, And that makes it traditional. He said, do away with all tradition, then you're doing away with everything that's good.

Well, what are these good ways? Well, what I want to do this morning is to take some of these negative statements that Jeremiah is accusing his people of and turn them into positive things. Because he says, if we walk in them, you shall find rest for your souls. Isn't that a beautiful promise? You know, I'm pretty well rested physically. Isn't that a beautiful promise? You know, I'm pretty well rested physically. The holidays I haven't done much actually. And I don't plan on doing much, you know, up until I have to go back to work. And all of us can find sometimes rest for our bodies, but it is rest for our

souls that eludes us. There is a restlessness of spirit. I don't know, just annoying restlessness there. But he says, if you demand and seek for the old ways and walk in them, you will receive rest for your souls. Let me just suggest some of the old ways. First of all, I would suggest that the old way is the way of sensitivity to God and His Word. Now I want you to go back to verse 10. To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear?

Because 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. See, the old path these people had been following is that they had lost their delight in the word of God. They had lost their enjoyment of the Word of God. It became a reproach to them. It became something loathsome to them. It became a task to them. It was something that they no longer delighted in. It was something that they no longer enjoy. Now, I want to tell you something. I read all kinds of stuff. I mean, I read fiction, I read nonfiction, I read from one end of the spectrum to the other. But there is nothing that delights

my soul and gives me a peace in my soul and rest for my soul as does reading the Word of God. I cannot explain it. I don't like to think of it as something magical. I like to think of it as something spiritual, that God lives in His Word, and when I take the time to get into His Word. Now you see, if you don't take the time to read, then you're not going to get any delight out of it. But when you decide, yes, I think I will read, and I've been rereading some of the stories of the Old Testament lately, and they're just as thrilling as anything on TV actually. And they delight your soul. I don't know, they wash your soul. There is a love for the Word of God just to hold it and just to read it and just to devour it and to delight in it.

That's the old way. That's the old way. I find, I know it's not true here, but I find that in many places I go, people are preaching everything but the Word of God. That there's no real delight. People are more interested in signs. People are more excited.

You know, we're set on fire by miracles and we're set on fire by signs and wonders, but we're never set on fire by the truth of God's Word. We'd rather hear about somebody's leg being lengthened or see somebody having a vision than we are about hearing the Word of God expounded and explained.

You see? And so the path that leads to rest, the old path, the old way is the way of delighting in the Word of God, the sensitivity to the Word, the devouring of the Word of God. But there's a second, There's a second path. And I'm going to try to take this negative and turn it into a positive. And the only way I can do that, I guess, is to say that it is the old path of sacrifice. The old path of giving rather than the old path of gaining. The old path of materialism and greed.

But instead, the old way is the way of sacrifice, the way of giving, the way of generosity. I want you to notice in verse 13. He says, for from the least of them, even unto the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness. And from the prophet, even unto the priest, everyone deals falsely. Oh my goodness, what an indictment. Jeremiah doesn't try to temper this.

And notice he says, From the least to the greatest. It's not just the rich who are greedy. Most of the time when we think about greed, we think about the rich people. They're greedy. They're materialistic. But listen, you don't have to be wealthy to be greedy or to be materialistic. He says, from the least of them, even unto the greatest. Every one.

Now notice the phrase here. This is so important. Every one of them is given, or rather is given over to covetousness. The idea is that covetousness or greed is a power that sucks us into its realm. We are given over to it. Notice he doesn't say we're greedy. He says we're given over to covetousness. That implies a decision on our part of where we place the values of life upon the things that we have.

And I stand among you as one that is guilty of this. You know, I like to have things. I really do. Of course, I need everything I've got. Actually, I need more than I have. I have a waiting list. I like things. I do. I like things. There's nothing wrong with liking things. But you see, you can like things to such an extent, and your security can be placed so much in what you have that it strangles the life of giving out of you.

You understand what I'm saying? That there is no longer the looking out for and looking for the opportunity to give. I tell you something that will give rest to your souls is if you will partake of the sacrificial spirit and not look so much for what you can gain but for what you can give. You know, amazingly, the Bible has so much to say about this that it's almost embarrassing, especially the prophets.

And those of you that know me know I love the prophets. And one of the major sins among God's people as depicted in the prophets is the fact their attitude, their abuse, their oppressiveness of the poor, of those who don't have. And I think sometimes that we have become so spiritual in our religion, so social in our application. A long time ago, we became so afraid of what they call the social gospel, soup, sandwiches, and soap, that we backed off from that. social, gospel, soup, sandwiches, and soap.

That we backed off from that. Now, I believe that salvation is still the greatest thing we can give them, but in giving them salvation, that doesn't mean they don't need soup and soap. If you want rest for your soul in this coming year, I would suggest that you look out for somebody that you can help. Well, I've got to move on. I never get a very good response from that. There is another path that we need to walk. And that is the path of seriously taking account of our sin.

Look at verse 14. I tell you, this is so graphic. They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. Now notice, they have healed the hurt. Of course, he's going back into 13, verse 13, where he's talking about the prophet and the priest deals falsely, and the immediate application is they have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying peace when there is no peace. In other words, they discover a cancer and they put a band-aid on it. And say, oh, it's not so bad after all. It's not so bad after all. We don't want to get too overwrought about this.

And notice the result of that in verse 15. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Oh my goodness, how about that? Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? And the answer, of course, no. Because once you play down the seriousness of sin, then you become hardened to it and accustomed to it. And notice what happens. Neither could they blush. They

lost their ability to even blush at things. Now that's not a description of us today, I don't know what is. You see, it's really the good old ways are the ways of walking with God, reading His Word, delighting in His Word, obeying His Word. The good old ways is the way of giving and sacrifice and reaching out, not self-centered. The good old ways are the ways of taking holiness seriously and sin seriously. I'll tell you how you can know when you get back on the good old ways is when you start to blush at sin. And there are so many of us in this room today, myself included, who do not blush at the things we would have blushed at 20 years ago. Is that right? Or even 10 years ago?

We've lost our ability to blush because we've lost our seriousness of the holiness of God. I long for the good old ways. Good not because they're old, but old because they're good. Now, it would be nice if you could end this with a happy story. But I want you to notice the end of verse 16. But they said, we will not walk therein. And the tense is they repeatedly say, we will not, we will not, we will not. Verse 17, also I set watchmen over you saying, hearken to the sound of the trumpet, which is a

sound of warning. But they said, we will not, we will not. That's again the tense of the verb, we will not, we will not hearken. I hope that is not the way the story ends in my life. I hope that's not the way the story ends in your life and in your church. Let me ask you a question this morning. Are you at the crossroads? Well, actually you are. What are you demanding? Do you so much want to see God and to be what God wants you to be that you will settle for nothing less than the

old ways, the right ways. Demand. Ask for. Demand. Settle for nothing less. To get my life back on track and loving God and obeying His Word

and looking out for others that are in need and not living for myself but living for others and having such a holy sensitivity to sin that I blush when I'm in its presence. The Ron Dunn Podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. If you would like to listen to additional Ron Dunn messages,

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