1. Return to the Old Paths (I)

2. God Pleads with Men to Return to Him
Days of Noah, 2 Peter 2:5
Isaiah, Isaiah 1:16-20; 8:20
The remnant, Zech. 1:3; Mal. 3:7; 4:4
John the baptizer, Matthew 17:11-13
God’s pleas were mostly ignored, Jeremiah 6:16-21; 8:4-7; 18:15-17

3. The ONLY Way of Salvation
God’s will through Jesus, Acts 4:12 (Jno. 14:6)
Returning to God’s ways… OLD PATHS – Is at the heart of the gospel we believe, obey and teach, 2 Pet. 1:12-15 (1 Peter 4:11)

4. Return to Absolute Respect for the Inspired Scripture
The word of God, 1 Cor. 2:6-13; 14:37; 1 Thess. 2:13; 2 Tim. 3: ; 2 Peter 1:3, 20-21
Respect for Bible has been and continues to be eroded

5. Absolute Respect for the Bible is Eroded…
By secular humanism
“We believe...that traditional dogmatic or authoritarian religions that place revelation, God, ritual, or creed above human needs and experience do a disservice to the human species.” (Humanist Manifesto II, 1973)

6. Absolute Respect for the Bible is Eroded…
By immorality (Colossians 3:5-7)
By hypocrisy (Matthew 23:2-7, 23)
By doctrines that deny Scripture, 1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Peter 2:1-2
New revelation / Relative truth, Holy Spirit guidance apart from the word, liberal theology, etc.

7. Return to using Bible as our Only Source of Authority
Return to Book-Chapter-Verse Preaching, Acts 17:2-3; 18:28 (Rom. 3:9-19)
Return to contending for the faith, Jude 3-4 (Acts 6:9-10)

8. Returning to the Old Paths of the Pure Gospel
Not idealistic fairy tale, 2 Peter 1:16
Not “church of Christ” tradition, Thessalonians 2:15; 3:6-7
Not brainwashed fanaticism, Galatians 4:9, 16

9. Returning to the Old Paths of the Pure Gospel
Jesus requires it! Matthew 7:21-29
Old paths is the good way of rest for the soul, Jer. 6:16 (Col. 3:17; Matt. 28:18)
Pattern of sound words, 2 Timothy 1:13