The Ancient Paths | Week 1

I don't think I'm alone. I think there would probably be some people who would agree with me that are here in the room or watching online that would agree that oftentimes we don't like to admit the truth. We don't like to face the truth. When I was a sophomore in high school, I measured 6ft 1 inches and I was the second tallest guy on my JV basketball team at Shaw High School in Columbus, Georgia. The tallest guy on our team was 6 foot 3 inches tall.

And my highlight game of my basketball career was against Columbus High School. And I was matched up head to head with a 6 foot 3 inch guy by the name of Sam Mitchell. And Sam and I went at it the entire game. We were trash talking each other, we were elbowing each other like crazy. We were duking it out.

We were going head to head and the game went into overtime. And at overtime, Sam fouled out with 16 points. I fouled out with 15 points. I just knew after that game D1 offers were going to come pouring in. Didn't happen.

Here's what did happen. After that year, Sam Mitchell in his junior year went from 6:3 to 6:8.

He continued to play through the next couple of years for Columbus High School and then he went on to play for Mercer University. And then he was drafted into the NBA and he had an 18 year career in the NBA and was even an NBA head coach.

I stayed at 6ft 1 inches, went on to play one year for Southeastern University and became a pastor.

A few years ago I went for my annual checkup at the doctor and the nurse said, sir, please step on the scales. And so like probably many of you, I start emptying my pockets of anything I can't. Cell phone comes out, keys come out, wallet comes out. And I step up onto the scales and she writes down on the chart. And then she says, step against the wall and we'll measure your height.

And I step against the wall and she brings that thing down on top of my head. She said, please step away from the. I stepped away from the wall and she's writing on her chart and she says, 5ft 11 inches.

I have never hit a woman in all of my life, but I came real close that day. I said, timeout. I said, ma', am, I said, Listen, I've been 6:1 since I was a sophomore in high school. She said, o. She said, let's measure again.

I stepped back up against the wall.

She brings that thing down on top of my head. She said, please step away from the Wall. I step away from the wall, and she looks me in the eye and she said, sir, I'm really, really sorry. You have shrunk 2 inches. You're 5ft 11.

Let me tell you something. True Confessions of a. From that moment until now, I lie to people all the time, and I tell them I'm six foot. I cannot. There's something about that extra.

I can't. I can't do. I can't. I cannot admit the truth that I have shrunk 2 inches. I just cannot admit it.

Just. It hurt my feelings so bad when she told me that, Listen, there's a thing in the business world, and even in church is called mission. Drift to. When a business or church will, over the course of time, drift from its original purpose. Happens.

Happens to a lot of people. Happens to companies. Let me give you an example. And it's not just because I'm wanting to pick on this particular company, but in 1946, May 23rd, Truett Cathy founded a company called Chick Fil? A.

And we all know Chick Fil? A. And they were founded on biblical and family principles. And they did not open on Sundays. You guys know that.

And they really upheld the biblical definition of marriage. And they come under great attack from the LGBTQ community a few years ago that really tried to prevent them from opening stores in certain locations. And then their sales doubled after that. But something interesting happened, and it wasn't just one day. It had happened over time.

But under the leadership of Andrew Cathy, Truett's grandson, in 2019, Chick Fil? A became woke.

And they stopped giving money to Salvation army and to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, because they said that their definition and their stance on marriage and sexuality was too controvers. Not only that, but they began giving thousands of dollars to organizations like Covenant House, who sponsored drag queen story Hours. And they also gave to organizations that supported abortion. And it just became clear, even though they probably would be reluctant to admit it, that they had drifted from their roots. But here's the thing you need to understand.

It doesn't just happen to businesses. It doesn't just happen to churches, but it also happens to people.

It's not a new thing. Centuries ago, the people of Israel began drifting from their foundation, began drifting from their. Their allegiance and their loyalty to the. The ways of God and to the law of God. They participating in idol worship.

They began participating in perverse acts of worship. They began sacrificing children. And so God sent prophets to call them back to their roots and to try to wake them up to the fact that they were drifting from their foundation.

But they refused to bring their behavior and their lives back in line with the word of God. And as a result, their wonderful capital city of Jerusalem was invaded and completely destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. one of the prophets that God had sent was a guy by the name of Jeremiah. And Jeremiah says something very interesting in Jeremiah, chapter 6, verse 16. And this one verse serves as foundation for this brand new series that we're beginning today that is called the Ancient Paths.

The Ancient Paths. You see it on the screen. The Ancient Paths. Let me read this verse that serves as the foundation for these next four weeks. Jeremiah, chapter 6, verse 16.

This is what the Lord says, stand at the crossroads and look. How many of you would agree that our word world is at a crossroads? Our nation is at a crossroads. How many of you would agree that the church is at a crossroads?

The Lord says, stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths. Ask where the good way is. And then what? Walk in it and you will find rest for your souls.

But you said, speaking of Israel, we will not walk in it. I'm just a little bit reluctant to tell you the topics for the next four weeks out of fear that you might find an excuse or a reason to not show up. But I'm going to tell you anyway.

Here's the topics for this series. Today we're talking about, you see it on the screen. The doctrine of sin. Next week, the doctrine of sanctification. The week after that, the doctrine of sacrifice.

And then it week four, the doctrine of suffering. Whoo.

Great feel good topics, right? The church growth experts would say, don't preach on those kinds of things or you'll never grow your church. And you know what I say to that? I don't give a rip about that. I don't.

I'm not trying to be dramatic with you. I'm not trying to get applause from you. I have a responsibility as a true shepherd to preach the full counsel of God, full word of God, whether it makes us feel good or not, whether it causes some people to leave the church. I have a responsibility before God. And those four topics represent the full counsel of God.

They're not hugely popular. As a matter of fact, some churches would never touch those subjects that I just said. And I'm not saying we're better than other churches. I just believe it's vitally important that you understand today the doctrine of sin. We're going to go to Romans, chapter five.

You have your device or Your Bible. Would you go there? We're going to begin. In verse 12, stand to honor the word of God, the greatest book on the planet. Anybody excited about the message today?

Come on. If you don't have your Bible or device, it's on the screen behind me. This is what Paul, in writing a letter to the church at Rome, says to them that speaks so clearly and loudly to us today. Beginning in verse 12, he says, when Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam's sin brought death.

So death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. For everyone sinned. Yes, people sinned even before the law was given, but it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break. Still, everyone d from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did. Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ who was yet to come.

But there's a great difference between Adam's sin and God's gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam brought death to many. But even greater is God's wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. And the result of God's gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man's sin. For Adam's sin led to condemnation.

But God's free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. For the sin of this one man, Adam caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God's wonderful grace. Anybody thankful for the wonderful grace of God? Come on, God, you can do better than that.

Are you thankful for the wonderful grace of God that's rescued you and saved you and his gift of righteousness for all who receive it? All who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ? Yes, Adam's one sin brings condemnation for everyone. But Christ's one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners.

But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous. God's law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned, more and more watch, God's wonderful grace became more abundant. So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God's wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Somebody ought to be shouting about right now.

Whoo. Man that's good stuff. Let's make some declarations together today before you're seated. And I cannot emphasize to you enough in the times in which we're living how vitally important it is that you anchor every, every aspect of your life to the principles of the Word of God. You anchor your life, anchor your marriage, anchor your children, anchor your business, anchor your hobbies, anchor your finances an your future, anchor your dating life, anchor everything to the principles of the word of God.

And I promise you, you'll be okay. So let's make some declarations today. Everybody out loud. You ready? Go.

I will hide this word in my heart that I might not sin against God. This word is life to my body and health to my bones. I will be a doer of the Word and not a hearer. Only that he who has begun a good work in me will complete it in Jesus name. Come on.

If you believe it, say Amen. Amen. You can be seated. Listen, any treatment. Come on now, lean in.

Any treatment of Christian doctrine, and doctrine is just a truth or a principle that's taught, but any treatment of Christian doctrine would be incomplete if the biblical statement concerning sin were omitted. Modern philosophy denies the existence of sin, but any such denial is a part of a false philosophy. A certain minister excused bad behavior or sin by accounting for it in terms of, and I quote, infantile environment, traumatic experiences, psychological complexes and the like. And then he said this, and I quote, after preaching for 50 years, I cannot help feeling that the church harps far too much on sin. Back in 1975, there was a new church that was started.

And with that church was birthed a movement across America known as the Seeker Sensitive Movement. In the church world, some of you might not even know what that means, but many churches across the nation, across America were concerned about offending non Christians. And so they eliminated the word sin from their vocabulary. They would never use the word sin. They would never preach on sin.

As a matter of fact, they only focused on the positive experiences of following Jesus, of living for Jesus. And they would never preach or teach on the sin components or the need to change our behavior because they were so afraid that they were going to offend somebody.

Now listen, we here at the Refuge are not one of those churches.

We're going to. We're going to preach on sin. We're going to talk about sin. Sin. We're going to call sin sin.

We're not going to say, you just have a character flaw. You just have some struggle. We're not going to say, it's some psychological thing that's going on. No, we're going to call sin what it is. And if that offends you, praise God.

Praise God. I'm not trying to be abrasive or ugly with you, but let me tell you, if the gospel had not offended me, I'm a sinner. That's just saved by the grace of God. And we need for the gospel to offend us so that we recognize our need for a Savior and our need to modify and alter and change our behavior. And I've learned, and you've probably learned, you cannot do that on your own.

You do not have enough willpower or enough discipline and you cannot listen to enough self help motivational speeches on TED Talks or read enough books. That's going to bring about the kind of change that you need.

We'll talk about that. Some Paul writes in Romans 5, When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam's sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.

Let's look at that. Let's go back to Genesis chapter three, beginning in verse one, it says, the serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. And one day he asked the woman, did God really say that you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden? Of course we may eat from the fruit fruit trees in the garden. The woman replied, it's only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we're not allowed to eat.

God said, you must not eat it or even touch it or you will die.

Are you kidding me? Really? That's what God told you? Oh, that's crazy. You're not going to die.

The serpent said, God knows that your eyes will be open as soon as you eat it and you'll be like God, knowing both good and evil. And the woman was convinced. Listen to me. The enemy desperately wants to convince you that the things that you're doing that contradict the standards of the word of God, that you're okay. It's okay.

You don't have to modify your behavior. You don't have to ask for forgiveness. He wants to convince you that you're okay, that grace covers you, you can do whatever you want to do, live however you want to live and still make it to heaven. And the woman was convinced. It said, and she saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious and she wanted the wisdom that it would give her.

And so she took some of the fruit and ate it. And then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it too. And at that moment, their eyes were open and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. And so they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. That's how it all started.

That's how it all began. And listen, you might be a great person, you might be one of the nicest people on the planet, but here's the bottom line. And I'm telling you this because I really do love you. And God's called me to be a shepherd for the last four decades. And I'm telling you this because I want to help you.

And the bottom line is this sinner. It's not because you've done a bunch of bad things. You were born a sinner because sin entered mankind. We just read it. And so everybody, everybody is born into sin.

And listen, our sin separates us from God. I know this is fundamental. This is Christianity 101, but it's not preached enough. And sometimes we need to be reminded it of how great our God is. Because the intention of God, when he put Adam and Eve in the garden, was that he would have relationship with them and fellowship with them and intimacy with them.

And they had that. And then when they chose their own way, all of a sudden there was this great chasm.

Fellowship was broken off. They could no longer have intimacy. And it hurt the heart of God. And God so desires to have relationship with you that he said, I've got to come up with a way. I've got to come up with something that can bring us back together.

Listen, in the Bible, there are eight Hebrew words and 12 Greek words that all speak of sin. But the most common one is a Greek word. And it's this word hamartia. Yeah, it's an archery term. It literally means missing the mark.

It's the word that we find in Romans, chapter three, verse 23. And it says there for everyone, say everyone has hamartid. Everyone has sinned. And we all fall short of God's glorious standard. It's a picture of someone shooting an arrow.

Arrow. And it falls short of the target. Like we're not hitting the bullseye, like we're not aiming right. We're not doing enough. The arrow keeps falling short.

And here's the truth. God has established a standard of holiness in order to enter heaven. And all men say, all men. All men fall short of that standard. Standard.

And it's an unattainable standard using man's ways. Listen to me. You've got to hear this. You cannot give enough to achieve the standard of God's holiness. You cannot serve enough to achieve that standard.

You cannot pray enough to achieve that standard. You cannot sacrifice enough to achieve the standard of the holiness of God. You cannot be religious enough and go through as many classes as you want and take studies online. You cannot be religious enough to achieve the standard of the holiness of God. You cannot do enough good deeds to do that.

And so maybe your response to that would be, so I'm sunk. I have no hope. There's nothing that can happen that can cleanse me from the mistakes that I've made. That's where the good news comes in.

Listen to me. The Bible is clear that our efforts to achieve the holiness of God on our own are not enough. Watch what it says in Isaiah, chapter 64, verse 6. We are all infected and impure with sin. All when we display our righteous deeds, praying, serving, giving, memorizing scripture, doing kind things for other people.

Listen to what it says. They are nothing but filthy rags. I'm not trying to be gross or graphic, but that literally is talking about a minstrel cloth. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind. Listen to what Matthew 23, verse 28 says.

In the same way, on the outside you appear to be people as righteous, but on the inside, you're full of hypocrisy and wickedness. And I believe that God purposely made his standard of holiness unachievable and unattainable by man. Here's why. Because for those who somehow would be able to achieve that, they would be prideful. And for those who could not achieve it, they would feel shame and condemnation.

There's this gap. We're separated from God. And God says, I made mankind because I want relationship with him. I want fellowship with him. Romans 5.

Yes. Adam's one sin brings condemnation for everybody but Christ. One act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everybody. In other words, God says, what can we do about this? Because I want relationship with mankind.

But there's this gap. And then God says, I know what I'll do. I'll give the best thing I've got. I'll give the only Son that I've got. And he'll bridge the gap where for centuries they've shed the blood of many animals over and over and over.

I'm going to allow my son to shed his blood one time, once and for all. And it's going to wash all of mankind from the inside out. And where all of their righteous acts Fall short and they're not enough. God says, I've got something that will cure the disease of sin and it's called the blood of Jesus. If you're thankful for his blood, come on, just say Amen this morning.

Morning.

The only way for you to be made right in the eyes of God is through the righteousness of Jesus. Is through the blood of Jesus. And maybe you're asking, how do we know what that standard is? How do we know what that standard looks like? And the sad thing is, is that some people allow man to define that standard for them.

And oftentimes they'll become very legalistic in their approach to God. Other people allow culture or the church world to define what that standard is. And they become so loosey goosey in their theology that it's like, I can do anything I want and God will understand and God will forgive me. But let me tell you something. There's a way from God that defines where we need to be.

So we're not legalistic and we're not loosey goosey, but we're right in the middle. As a matter of fact, two things that God uses to help you and I to understand the standard of holiness. Here's the first one. The Word of God. The Word of God.

The Word of God does a wonderful job of telling us how we should live. How we should live. Listen, don't let culture or people define for you what that looks like. Read the Word of God and God is crystal clear on everything that concerns your life. Here's the second way.

The conviction of the Holy Spirit.

Come on. Anybody ever experience the conviction of the Holy Spirit? Come on. How many of you are thankful for the conviction of the Holy Spirit? Oh, yeah.

Oh yeah. Because when we begin to stray from the standards of the holiness of God, there's this person who's a part of the Trinity who comes alongside of us and he starts nudging us and bumping us back over to the standard of God and saying, no, no, no, no, that's not right. That activity's not right. That relationship's not right, that mindset's not right, that pride's not right, that anger's not right, that lust is not right, that addiction is not right. And he bumps us over towards the holiness of God.

And we have to make a decision. Will I resist that and kick against that, or will I bring my life back into alignment with the standards of the Word of God? It's wonderful. The Word of God, the conviction of the Holy spirit. Deuteronomy, chapter 30, verse 19.

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life so that you and your children may live. He gives us a choice. He's never going to force anything on you. He sends the Holy Spirit to convict us.

We have to make a choice. We read something in the word of God, and although the church world might say, ah, that's okay, it's not a big deal, and we read something in the word of God that says, that is a big deal. We have to make a choice. We can choose life or death in that moment. Listen to what James says in James, chapter 1, verse 13.

Let no one say when he's tempted, I'm tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he's drawn away by his own desires and entice. Watch then. When desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin.

And sin, when it's full grown, brings forth death. Let me illustrate for you three different people. There are some people, and maybe it's some of you or some that are watching online that would just say, hey, listen, I've decided in my life I'm gonna do my thing. I'm gonna go my own way. I don't care about the ways of God.

I don't care what the Bible says. I'm gonna live the way that I. I want to live, and I have that right, and I'm entitled to do that. And you know what? You're exactly right. You can live your own way.

You can keep going higher in the things of God and think, this is going to lead me to success and to fulfillment. You can do that. This day I've set before you life and death is what Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 19 says. There are other people. Some of you praise God that you've said, hey, listen, I've tried that and it didn't work out too well for me.

I choose the ways of God. Like, I want to be one of those who ascends the high hill of the Lord. I want to have clean hands and a pure heart. I want to give my life and I want to go higher in the things of God. I'm going to pursue him all the days of my life, and I'm going to live according to the standards of the Word of God.

Some of you might be choosing your own ways. Some of you might be choosing the ways of God. But let me tell you about the third person Third person is the person who says, I don't know, I kind of like the things of God, but also like doing things my way.

And they go higher in the things of God, but they also go higher in their own choices. And they spend their life straddling the gap. They go higher in the ways of God and higher in their own ways. And there comes a point in time that you have to choose because you can't continue to straddle the gap. There comes a point in time where you have to say, I think I'll choose my own way.

And again, you can do that, just stay upset before your life and death go your own way. You think, when I've made enough money, I'm going to be satisfied. When I've slept with enough men or enough women, I'm going to be satisfied. Satisfied. When I've partied my brains out, I'm going to be satisfied.

And then we. We get to the top and we discover that our way only leads to death.

It's not what we thought. You can't live forever straddling the ways of God and straddling your own way. There comes that point that you have to decide which one to say, I've set before you life and death. And then he says, choose life so that you may live and so your children may live. And some of you have said, you know what?

That's not working out too well. And I've tried playing both things, and, oh, my goodness, we're so, so tempted to do that in the American church world of, like, I'm gonna have it both ways. I'm just telling you as a pastor who loves you, you can't have it both ways.

You've got to decide. Like Jeremiah says, choose ye this day whom you're going to serve. But I promise you this. If you'll choose the ways of God, and you'll keep climbing higher in the ways of God, his way will lead you to life. It'll lead you to life.

That doesn't mean it's going to be easy. You still got to climb. You still got to make choices and devote yourself to the things of God. But I promise you that it will lead you to life.

Paul says this in Romans, chapter 6, verse 23. He said, Somebody's got to pay the bill.

Somebody's got to pay the price. Because the payment for sin, the wages of sin, it says in Romans 6:23, is death. In other words, you stay on this track, that's where it's going to lead.

He says, the wages of Sin. Somebody's going to pay. You're going to pay. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord life. And some of you here today, you've decided.

Decided I'm entitled. I want to do things my way. And you can do that. Others have decided, man, I want to live according to the ways of God. And it's going to lead you to life.

But yet I know too, there's probably some of you that are trying to have it both ways. It's not going to work. There comes a point that you have to choose. Bow your heads and close your eyes. Father, I thank you for that.

You're the God of life. You're the God of hope. Thank you that you've set before us today life and death. And thank you, Holy Spirit, that you're so faithful to convict us of sin and nudge us back into the righteous path of God. We can't achieve or attain it on our own through our own acts.

In fact, our acts are just filthy. But when we surrender to the finished work of Jesus on the cross, when we apply the blood of the Lamb to our hearts, we are restored into right fellowship with you. And we're made spotless again because of your blood. Lord, I pray for every person here today. I pray God that we would not become our own self defense attorneys.

We would not justify our behavior. We would not justify our rights. God, no matter how small the sin might be, no matter how great, I pray that those who are entrapped somehow in some small sin would not just push it aside and say it's not a big deal. And I pray also for those who have been involved in some large sin. I pray God, that they would not feel shame and condemnation and they would not feel like there's no hope for them.

I pray today, God, that every person that's here today or every person watching online would understand you made a way for us to be made right with you. Thank you, Jesus, for dying on the cross and for shedding your blood. I just pray right now, Holy Spirit, that you would do what you're so good at doing, and that is convict our hearts, draw us to the Father, highlight those things in our lives that maybe don't line up with the word of God. Even though maybe somebody told us it's okay, even though somebody in the church might have said it's not a big deal.

Let us pay attention today to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Hey, thanks so much for joining us for this message of God's word spoke to your heart. In a special way. We would love to hear from you. You can reach out to us at testify therefuge.

Net. I look forward to you joining us again, whether it's in person or online. God bless you.