Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Lamentations chapter 1, the
chapter that we read. And reading for our text, verse
12. Verse 12. Is it nothing to you, all ye
that pass by? Behold and see if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow. which is done unto me, wherewith
the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. Lamentations 1 and verse 12. This first chapter and indeed
the book of Lamentations is written in a way that, yes, is Jeremiah
penning it, and it is his sorrows, and it is grief, but it's as
if Jerusalem itself is lamenting, that it is the city, it is the
very place itself that is pouring forth a lamentation. We know,
of course, Jeremiah personally felt it very much, his own soul. Jeremiah, who had to prophesy
of these coming chastisements of the Lord to a people that
would not hear, to have his ministry and warnings countered by false
prophets and by those that were bent on continuing their wickedness
and sin. And so God brought upon them
the armies of Nebuchadnezzar to be his servant. He refers to Nebuchadnezzar as
his servant. And that which was done, though
men were used in it, was the hand of the Lord upon his people. It was a hand in chastening,
but it had, and again through Jeremiah, the promises that again
there would be lands bought and sold in Israel, that they would
come back from captivity. And we know that that was the
case. But these terrible things that
were happening and bringing forth this lamentation. I want to just,
before we come to several points, look at two points first. And that is, firstly, the miserable
state of Jerusalem at this time. What was causing her misery? Well, really, there is three
things. One was her own sin. Before ever God chastened them
or dealt with them, it is the sin of the people of God that
lays them low and brings them low. They were defiled by the
idols of the countries round about. they had sinned. We read that righteousness exalteth
a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. And they themselves,
before ever Nebuchadnezzar came, had made themselves a miserable
people, a people so far removed from the beauty of those that
serve the Lord. We think of the days of Solomon,
When the temple was built and the going up to the house of
God, the dedication of the temple, the cloud that filled the temple,
the answer of the Lord, and the blessings that were upon the
people of God at that time. How different, how different
as they turned aside, neglected to hear the word of the Lord,
despised his prophets, and went their own way. So it is firstly
what makes her miserable and have a miserable condition is
her own sin. We have it in verse 8, Jerusalem
hath grievously sinned, therefore she is removed. We have it spoken
of in verse 9, her filthiness is in her skirt, she remembereth
not her last end, therefore she came down wonderfully. She had
no comforter. It is again mentioned in 20,
verse 20, and it is because of rebellion. For I have grievously
rebelled. Abroad the sword bereaveth, at
home there is death. Israel was known to be, right
from the very beginning of their forming, to be a rebellious nation. And really, when we think of
it, that was the sin of our first parent. The Lord had set forth
His commandment, His way, and it was the sin of rebellion to
rebel against Him. And we see it repeated again
and again. And may we ever be warned on
that, that that is one of the chief sins, that the people of
God, let alone others, plague with and are more likely to fall
into is rebelliousness. We think of Psalm 68, the rebellious
dwell in a dry land, but then we have the contrary, the beautiful
promise that he hath received gifts for men. Yea, for the rebellious
also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. And that's
a beautiful word. especially when we feel in our
own hearts so often to rebel against the Lord. So the first
thing then that made Jerusalem miserable was her sin. Now how is that with us? What
is the state and condition of our soul? We might say, well,
the Lord hasn't chastened us, he hasn't corrected us, we haven't
yet felt his rod, But how do we come up to the Word of God? What is our lives? What is our
heart? What is our affections, our thoughts? How close do we live to the Lord? How much do we regard His Word? Or do we fall under the Word
of which the Lord said, to those of His day, ye call me Lord and
Master, and ye say, well, for so I am, but ye do not. the words that I say, the things
that I say. Be ye doers of the word and not
hearers only. And so we would be searched by
this first aspect of the miserableness of Jerusalem. But then we have
the second, and that is when the Lord brings His chastening.
And though it is a miserable state, They were brought to. The temple was destroyed. What was mentioned in the very
beginning, here was brought about. Here was a city that was full
of people, and now it sits solitary. She's just like a widow. The
adversaries, they are chief. Her beauty is departed. The Lord
has brought his chasing hand in the form of the armies of
a nation that he might say was more wicked than Israel itself. And yet the Lord judged them
and dealt with them. There is a balance to this, of
course, because we are told in Hebrews that It is those that
the Lord loves that he chastens and receives those of his children. And yet that chastening is grievous. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth,
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening,
God dealeth with you as with sons. What son is he? whom the
Father chastiseth not. And no chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous but grievous, nevertheless afterward it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby. And so though Jerusalem was laid
so bare and so low, yet the Lord was doing that for them. that
was eventually for their good. He was to restore them. And yet
what a picture and what a sign was meeting the eyes of Jeremiah
and those that lived in his day. So this again was what made the
state of Jerusalem miserable, is the Lord chastening us. Or
is He just leaving us to go our own way? Are we under His rod,
personally, as a church and people here? These things come close. It is what made Jerusalem miserable,
void and empty of people. But there is a third aspect And that was that that which
was done to Jerusalem was done in the sight of all the nations. Really, with the children of
Israel going through the wilderness as well, what was done was in
the sight of all the nations. The signs and wonders in Egypt
were, the going through the Red Sea was, the going through Jordan
was. but also their rebellings, their
sins, and the Lord's judgment with them, their turning back,
and the 40 years in the wilderness, all was in full sight of those
round about. And all of the nations were looking
upon Jerusalem here. It wasn't something that was
done hidden. It wasn't something that they
could just gloss over, no, it was in full view of all that
we're looking on. And that made their stain even
more miserable. How is our stain? The Lord deals
with us, and instead of doing it secretly, the Lord often said
with the children of Israel, they had done it secretly, but
he would do it before all the nations. It would not be hid,
and we are told that that most solemn, last judgment day, that
that which is spoken in the closet shall be declared upon the housetops,
that every secret thing shall be made known and made bare,
and nothing shall be hidden. What a solemn thought. Oh, to be found in Christ and
our sins and iniquities blotted out and pardoned at that great
day. But then there's this second
thing. There's these three things that made them miserable, their
sin at the first, the Lord's chastening of them, and the fact
that it was done in the sign of all the other nations. But
then there were those that passed by. Our text. Is it nothing to you,
or ye that pass by? Those that were looking on, those
that were passing by, those that saw what was happening, but those
that were afflicted, they felt no one is really feeling it for
them. No one can sympathize. No one
can enter. into their path at all. And this
then is the complaint of Jerusalem. I want this evening to look past
Jerusalem and to eventually come to the Lord Jesus Christ who
bore the sin of his people and again bore it in a very open
way. And there were those that passed
by, and that wagged their heads, and that derided, and that mocked. And what is
said here may rightly be applied to those that passed by that
viewed the sufferings and death of our Lord. Is it nothing? to you that pass by. And so it
is a searching word. You might say, how does it apply
to us when we do not pass by the cross of our Lord? But we
do. Because the Lord has instituted
in his house the ordinances of baptism, buried with him by baptism
into death and risen again. He has instituted the Lord's
Supper. As oft as ye do this, ye do show
forth the Lord's death till he come. He has shown forth in the
preaching of the word, lifted up above the earth, I will draw
all men unto me. It is in the preaching that sinners
are drawn. And yet how often It is that
we come and go to the house of God, and certainly by nature,
certainly it was with me before being called by grace, it was
nothing. I heard the preaching, but did
not hear. I saw the Lord's supper and ministered,
but did not see the Lord. I saw baptisings taking place,
but never inquired as to what these really meant or knew what
it meant. There's many ways, really, each
one that comes into the house of God, they pass by, they pass
by, they see the people of God, they see the brethren, they see
those that sin, they see the chastisement of the Lord upon
them, They see those that show forth the Lord's death, they
gather round His table. We ask ourselves as we that pass
by, is it nothing or is it something? What does it mean to us? Are
we affected by what is happening to another person, another church,
another one of the Lord's people? One or the other of the Lord's
servants? Or is it actually nothing and
doesn't affect us at all? I want then to look briefly with
the Lord's help, firstly, at the sorrow of the chastened of
the Lord. We have in our text, see if there
be any sorrow like unto my sorrow. And then secondly, those words
that I've just read here, any sorrow like unto my sorrow. We tend to think that our sorrows
are the greatest sorrows, and in one sense they are. because
they are personally felt. But then thirdly, the sorrow
of the man of sorrows, the Lord Jesus Christ. But firstly, the sorrow of the
chastened of the Lord. That in the first place is the
sorrow that is felt here by Jeremiah and that which he expresses Really,
he makes intercession on behalf of the nation, the same as years
later it would be Daniel that makes confession of Israel's
sin and the reason for their captivity. So it is the sorrow
of the chastened of the Lord firstly to think of. We have in the 51st Psalm, a
expression of the sorrow of David. After he had committed adultery
and murder, the Lord had forgiven his sin, but he was chastened. The sword was not to depart from
his house. The child that was first born
was to die and He knew what it was to lose the
joy of the Lord. And so in Psalm 51, almost a part with lamentations, on a
personal basis, how he cries against thee, the only have I
sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou Mightest
be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. And you can read the psalm at
your leisure, but the great sorrows of one that is being brought
to be convinced of their sin. It is the great mercy of the
Lord to when he chastens and when he convinces of sin, to
bring us to see sin as we never saw it before. And it is a bittersweet
to actually feel sorry for our sin, to be mourners over our
sins and after the Lord. It is under the chastening hand
of God that God's people are brought to really see what sin
is, to really view it in the light of God's countenance. Those are looking on very often
will think, well, the sorrow is because of this loss, or that
loss, or because of these things that have happened, because of
this trial or this affliction. But often it is the real sorrow
is on the heart, is that which man cannot see, is that which
the soul realises and knows why these things have come. and groans
under those sins, remembers with bitterness. You know, it is when
we think of those things that then we weep. It is when we are
chastened that then we bow before the Lord. It is then that we
have a spirit that in God's sight is a right sight, a right spirit,
when we are exercised in a right way, humbled in the dust, laid
low before the Lord. With Jeremiah's case, if you
looked at Israel of a whole, they were all partaking of those
same outward things. But it's the likes of Jeremiah,
those that were the spiritual, those that knew what Israel had
done and why these things had come, that had a very different
aspect to the sorrow than those outwardly. Those that know not the Lord
will have sorrows when they lose loved ones, when they lose possessions,
when they lose health, when they have troubles and trials come
upon them. But with God's people, there's
another aspect that the world does not know. Do we have that
other aspect? In our trials, in the things
that come upon us, if we just say, well, it was a chance, it
was nothing, Those of the Philistines, they put the Lord on trial, they
said, when the Ark of Israel went through their coasts and
they were afflicted with the emeralds, with the pestilence
and so many thousands dying. They feared the Ark coming near
them. And they said, is it the Lord?
Let us do a test and see which way it goes when we send it back. Does it go to Israel? Does the cows that are having
their calves locked up at home, bringing this cart, will they
go back to their calves or will they go to Israel? They had a
clear answer whose hand it was upon them. But we don't realize,
don't read of any sorrow for their sake. For their ungodliness,
though God first dealt with their god Dagon, and his base was cut
off and had fell before the Ark, yet it never had an effect to
turn them to the true and to the living God. If we are chastened, are we chastened? Are we really bound before the
Lord? Are we really humble? Do we hear
the rod and who hath appointed it? Or do we just mourn on one
aspect instead of the three aspects that I mentioned at the start?
Do we only mourn because of the outward chastening or mourn because
of the sin and mourn because even the ungodly? can see our
state and our condition. The sorrow then of the chastened
of the Lord, is it our sorrow? May we have a real godly sorrow
over our sins and after the Lord. But then secondly, any sorrow
like unto our sorrow, We mentioned David, but we think of others
and especially dear Job in the path that was with him. And you
might say, well, with Job, it wasn't chastening. It wasn't
something that he had done. Yet when he came into those trials,
it brought forth from him that justifying of himself, bringing
his own righteousness, as it were, having a quarrel with the
God, or with God, Elihu says, or speeches for wicked men. But
Job, he speaks of his sorrow as a deep personal sorrow, and
it was. But when we come into these things,
we think, no one has ever walked this path before. No one has
ever borne these things. before. These sorrows, these
things that we go through, they are so hard for us to bear. And Job, he speaks of those sorrows
that he has. Are they not mockers with me?
Doth not mine eye continue in their provocation? He speaks
of the things that he is feeling as the Lord's hand is upon him. And he says of his friends, how
they could not enter into his path at all. My kinsfolk have
failed. My familiar friends have forgotten
me. They that dwell in mine house
and my maids count me for a stranger. I am an alien in their sight. And he goes on with that which
is particular to him. All my inward friends abhorred
me, and they whom I loved are turned against me. You know, dear Jacob, when Joseph
was dealing with his brethren, He says, all these things are
against me. He viewed those dealings. He
felt it. We think of Jonah, cut off from
the sight of the Lord, cast into the depths. And David, he speaks
in many of the Psalms, no man careth for my soul. When things come, To us personally,
we are not to be surprised when many cannot enter into our path. There's a reason why the Lord
will have his people come to him and to pour out their sorrows
to him and to return unto him. Job, he proved his friends miserable
comforters and we shouldn't be surprised. if we would prove
the same. So when we have, see if there
be any sorrow like unto my sorrow. It's as it were the voice. You
find someone that walks a similar path, as hard as me. No doubt many of us, if we could
really think and weigh things in, we would find others. But
many times when we are actually in the trial, it is so much for
us, so consuming for us, such a burden to us, that this language
describes how we feel. Any sorrow, like unto my sorrow. I want then to think lastly of
the sorrow of the man of sorrows, the Lord Jesus Christ. It would
be a blessed thing if we are led from our sorrows to His. Because if we are the Lord's
people, the reason for the Lord's sorrows are our own sins. He had laid on Him the iniquity
of us all. We have many of the Psalms that
speak in a prophetic way of His sufferings, but we think especially
of that recorded in the Gospels of our Lord in the Garden of
Gethsemane, when the sins of his people were laid upon him. And in Matthew 26 and verse 37,
we read of him taking Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, James
and John, began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he
unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, tarry
ye here and watch with me.' He went a little further and fell
on his face and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wills. We hear him on the cross, My
God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? Many then passed by, wagging
their heads. Thou that saved others, save
thyself, come down from the cross and we will believe thee. Many
that never entered into what was going on in his very soul. They saw a crucified man. They
saw a man hanging in shame between two thieves. They didn't see
the Prince of Glory. They didn't see the sacrifice
being offered that was to take away the sins of all of his people. They didn't see and feel the
wrath of God that was on him, causing the darkness and causing
his cries. He had laid on him the iniquity
of us all. The Lord rightly is termed the
man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, not for his sin,
but for ours. And those three aspects that
we said of Jerusalem belong to him, not his own sin, but his
people's sin. And then that which was done
outwardly, the cruelty, the terribleness of the cross, death itself, and
then that it was done so publicly and so openly. And yet how vital that each of
these things were done. The accounts always emphasize
that the scripture might be fulfilled. And the prophecies went before
to clearly tell us As the Lord testified, I lay down my life
for the sheep. This commandment have I received
from my Father, I have power to lay it down, I have power
to take it again. What was added to his sorrows,
the same as what Job complained of, all his friends, his disciples,
they footsook him and fled. the path our Lord walked. Those
saints who went before, they tasted a little, and we that
follow after will taste a little as well. But blessed be God if
we do have some fellowship with the Lord in his sufferings and
are brought to go from our sufferings and say with thee, dying thief,
we indeed just thee. but this man hath done nothing
amiss. And add that petition, Lord,
remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. So may the
word before us this evening lead us to Calvary, lead us to Christ. Is it nothing to you, all ye
that pass by, Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto
my sorrow which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted
me in the day of his fierce anger. May the Lord add his blessing. Amen.