Dear BPCWA worshipper, We thank God for a time of spiritual learning of His eternal truths at the camp. In this pastoral, I will summarise the morning devotion messages preached via video sermons by Preacher Joshua Yong. While we currently have a strong foundation on the Word of God by God’s grace, BPCWA and other sound churches must be warned against departing from it when the baton is passed on to the next generation. Hence, I asked him to preach on the theme “Walk in the Old Paths” from Jeremiah 6:16 “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. But they said, We will not walk therein”. I hope the following weeks of recapturing the salient points of the Family Camp will help us remember and reinforce the lessons God brought us.

Recognising the Old Paths. This warning was given to Judah before the eventual fall of Jerusalem because they rejected the old paths. What were these old paths which Judah knew but rejected? 1) Lasting, perpetual paths. These are the ways in which God had commanded (Deut 6:1-3), paths that the saints walked in in the past, and paths that will never be outdated or irrelevant. Instead of obedience, Israel turned to the worship of the different forms of Baal, interesting new things around them, and adopted a syncretistic form of worship where they worshipped both the LORD as well as their idols. Today, we can be enthralled with new philosophies too, not depending totally upon God and His Word. 2) Firm paths. God’s Word is authoritative and safe as our foundation by itself. Unlike the New Evangelicals and Charismatics who use testimonies to make doctrine, God is never “proved” by science, “evidence”, or testimonies of man. We must never turn to anything to prove God. God’s Word proves if something is true, not the other way around. This is why we can trust God’s Word with our lives. Moreover, God’s commandments are not optional, His statutes are our duties before Him, and His judgements are always right. 3) Good paths. Because they are based upon God’s Word, they are always righteous, fair, and just. They are for our good and given out of God’s love. If we think there is subjectivity in it, it is simply because we are unwilling to obey. Obedience is a blessing for God’s people. And we can be obedient because the direction of God’s path is clearly stated for us in Scripture.

Remaining In the Old Paths. 1) Seeing. We must focus, stand, and remain in the old paths, despite many distractions and ideologies that try to pull us away from it. Christians must always have a Christian worldview in all areas of our lives, based only on the Word of God that binds and guides our actions and not upon research and psychology. 2) Asking.  This reflects a desire for the way, indicating that it is a path that you must want to walk in and delight in. This must be our attitude to the commandments of God. While walking in these paths is our obligation and duty, it must also be our desire and not deemed to be a burden. David attested to this when he says “my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee . . . Because thy lovingkindness is better than life” (Ps 63:1-3). If that is not our heart, we must renew the desire and taste it again. 3) Walk therein. There must be growth in our Christian life, but always within the old paths. When we have progress, we will and must remain in the old paths because it brings a blessing when we walk in God’s will. 

The Refreshing In the Old Paths. The old paths will always lead us to a place where there is rest through all the different phases of our lives. 1) Rest in certainty. Because His Word is authority and sure, you know who God is without being tossed to/fro by every changing modern research. There is assurance in what God has revealed. Once you doubt its authority, you will have no rest. 2) Rest in righteousness & holiness. Sin and wilfulness bring rebellion, turmoil, and unrest. We can try to drown our troubles through worldly means, but we will never find rest in our souls in them. Prov 2:4,10,11 speaks of how God’s wisdom will not only be pleasant, but “shall preserve” and “keep thee” against that which is “froward” (v12) – the perverse or twisted schemes of cunning. Disobedience and twisting the word bring turmoil when you insist on walking in the grey area of disobedience. 3) Rest in safety. The old paths guard us against the perverse who want to drag others into rebellion and death with them. We mustn’t think we must indulge in a sin to know sin, because that itself is sinful. Safety is in the old paths and parents may already have lost their children when they don’t pull them back from the wiles of the devil, but instead, think that their children “should learn from the experience themselves”.  We never walk in the old paths alone, because we will walk together with mature saints and we will encourage and point one another to the Lord as we walk.

The Rejection of Old Paths. Sadly, the people responded to God’s call with “We will not walk therein” (Jer 6:16). 1) Reason for rejection. Just as children sometimes disobey for no reason except because of self-will, we too can reject God’s laws simply because of stubbornness and rebelliousness. We can choose our own way simply because we want our way. Backsliders may blame the church, the leaders, the pastors, and their peers to excuse their refusal to acknowledge their own stubbornness. We mustn’t play around with words but instead, simply come back and choose to obey. Be honest with yourself and don’t excuse yourself with “I need more time” or “I need to really know” when you already know what is right from the Scriptures, but you do not like the old paths. 2) Manner of rejection. Though they had rejected God’s law, they continued a semblance of worship, which God completely rejected (Jer 6:20). This was syncretistic worship with a mere semblance of truth in Christ’s Name, like the Neo-Evangelicals and Neo-Calvinists. We can come in worship and service but when we harbour unrepentant sins, we become like impure brass and iron (Jer 6:28) and reprobate silver which is rejected (Jer 6:30). We may think about going to unsound churches so that we can have the semblance of Christianity in our lives. 3) Result of rejection. The children of Israel were disciplined by the LORD and sent into captivity by Babylon. However, they refused to accept God’s chastisement and wanted to go to Egypt instead. God humbled them by His merciful chastisement to stop them from their sin. They were taken out of the Promised Land to where they were surrounded by idolatry to learn the discipline of the Lord. If we reject the old paths but profess Christianity, our testimony for God is affected. There is a place for repentance. So, we must turn back to the precious old paths if we have strayed or are tempted to.

When the old generation passes on, the old paths must survive that transition. We have seen churches that were once sound and godly but have deviated and departed from the truths. Even the Bible-Presbyterian movement, once started to stand squarely on God’s truths, is not spared. Many Singapore B-P churches have fallen. The doctrines of Pre-millennialism, Bible versions, association with para churches, use of musical instruments, and style of worship are no longer important. As we closed off the messages, the question in my mind is will the next generation in BPCWA preserve the doctrinal soundness of the church? We cannot assume that simply because it is tenaciously guarded now, it will always be so. It depends on the leaders of the church to hold on to it strongly and selflessly, whatever the cost, for God’s kingdom. It depends on whether the members want to stand upon the old paths or go their own way to oppose whoever may resist their desire to be “modern” and in the new paths. We must pray for watchmen who will be willing to sound the trumpet to warn and not just pay lip service when it is advantageous for them. We must pray and only desire those who have firm unwavering convictions so that BPCWA will remain true. Let us always remember the covenantal words of our LORD.

Jer 7:23   But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.

Yours in our Lord’s service,
Pastor