Let's take our Bibles and turn
to the book of Lamentations chapter 3. Lamentations chapter 3. There's a wonderful thought that
is set forth through this particular chapter. And as you heard me saying I'm
sure a moment ago, first I planned to preach through a major portion
of this chapter. But I'm only going to look at
the first eight verses. And just to give you an update
of what is going on here, Jeremiah, a man that God called to be a
prophet, he saw the heart and rebellion of the people. And it grieved him. It grieved
him. He said in verse 1 of chapter 1, how does the city sit solitary
that was full of people? How has she become as a widow,
she that was great among the nations and princess among the
provinces. How has she become tributary
at being in tribute or servitude to heathens? Isaiah saw and he realized this
was a picture. Men, women are born in servitude,
fred to sin. And Jeremiah saw it and he knew
the picture of it. He knew what was happening in
the condition of natural Israel being in servitude. Different
one, Babylon, Egypt. And seeing the affliction and
the misery of God's people Isaiah asked this question in verse
13 of chapter 2. He said, What things shall I
take to witness for thee? What things shall I liken to
thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I equal to thee that
I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? For thy breach
is great like the sea. Who can heal thee? Isaiah was
saying, what can I do for you? Seeing the condition that you're
in, how can I comfort you in your grief, in your misery? I tell you, a pastor that's called
of God watches for the souls of God's heritage. He's concerned. And he sees the inward strivings
of his own soul, and he knows. That's what God's people are
going through too. We're frail creatures of the dust. Isaiah said in Isaiah 64, 6,
we're all as an unclean thing. All of our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags. I preached out of Psalm 130 in
the first service. And the psalmist asked this,
if thou, Lord, should mark iniquity, O Lord, who shall stand? Lord,
if you consider it against me, Lord, who can stand before you?
You're just God. There's a constant marvel concerning
the grace of God. How could God show mercy to someone
like me? I said this also in the first
service. It just came to my mind. I'll
share it with you. Then we'll look at this scripture. We all
know that God is sovereign. God is sovereign. He told Moses,
he said, I will have compassion on whom I'll have compassion.
I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. The Spirit of God
moved upon the Apostle Paul to say in Romans chapter 9, so then
it's not of him that willeth, not of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. God has a right to leave one
man to himself and harden him. God has the right to call another
out of darkness. But I will tell you this, God's
people are not fatalistic. What does that mean? That means
that no believer is going to say, well listen, whatever is
going to be is going to be. It doesn't really matter if God
has already determined it. It won't have anything to do with
it, so I'm just going to not worry about it. You will perish
in your sins. God is sovereign. But I'll tell
you what God has done. He has ordained that His people
are going to call upon Him for mercy. And they're going to ask
for mercy. If God leaves a man, leaves a
woman to themselves to say, I'm just not going to worry about
it. You will perish in your sins. But if God gives you a heart
to call upon the Lord, God has shown mercy to you. Because I'm
telling you, God has provided not only the end from the beginning,
but He's provided the means too. Somebody says, well, I don't
understand that. Well, okay, then I'm with you. I don't understand
it all either. But I'm going to tell you this,
this is the way it is. This is the way it is. God has
mercy. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. I know that God can do with me
whatever He wants to do. Because He's God. Jeremiah saw
the suffering of the people. God's preachers seized the suffering
of God's elect. They suffered just like anybody
else. They've got a heart that is carnal. They're born with
a heart that's carnal just like anybody else. But he said, what
can I do for you? What I'd like to do this morning
is I'm going to do for you and for me what the Lord has ordained
that I can. I can do something for you. I
can do something for you. And I'll tell you what I'm going
to do for you. I'm going to preach the gospel to you. This is all
I can do, Bear. This is all I got. This is all
I got. I'm going to preach the gospel
to you. Verse 21, which we won't be there today, but Jeremiah
said this, This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. I've got some hope. I've got
some hope. And I'm going to show you from
these scriptures where a believer's hope is found. The scripture sets forth that
Almighty God has done something for His people in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is what the Lord has
done. Jehovah has done for His people. I'm going to read. I'm going
to start in just a minute. But I want you to look at Isaiah
chapter 53. Isaiah 53. I'm going to read
a few verses. Isaiah 53 starting in verse 4.
I'm going to read through verse 11. Listen to what Isaiah, under
the inspiration of God's Spirit, has said. Surely He, that is
Christ, has borne our, that's His people, He's borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes
we're healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid
on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, He was afflicted,
yet He opened not His mouth. He brought as a lamb to the slaughter,
as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His
mouth. He was taken from prison, from
judgment, who shall declare his generation? He was cut off out
of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people
was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked, with the rich in his death, because he hath done no
violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. and
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see a seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail of his
soul and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Now I want to read just a few
verses out of Lamentations 3 that sets forth, I think, plainly. for us this morning what it meant
that it pleased the Lord to bruise him. What did the Lord do? Verse 1, Lamentations 3, I am
the man that has seen the affliction by the rod of his wrath. Christ
alone, not Jeremiah. This is Christ. This is speaking
of the Lord Himself. as the eternal Lamb. Only He
can say and speak of the affliction of God's wrath and hear prophetically
and relate that which has been beheld by God eternally. He was
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Now listen, this
is in the Old Testament. Christ has not come at that time
into this world. He comes hundreds of years later
and actually in time goes to the cross. But this is what God,
Jehovah, has seen eternally. And the Scriptures, this is written
in past tense of something that will happen in time. This is the one that was brought
up with Jehovah, set up, the Scripture says in Proverbs 8.
Anointed as the suffering Savior of His people. Only He could
say, I am the man that hath seen. That word seen right there, it's
a word that was used by Eve. in the Garden of Eden, whenever
Satan tempted her. And it says, and when she saw
that the tree was good for food, it's a word that means to see
by an example, to see by experiencing something. She saw. I won't go
into that, that's another message. But that word right there, the
word seen there, is to experience. I am the man that has experienced. I've had this exhibited to me
personally. I'm the man that has seen, I've
beheld it because it happened to me, the Lord said. He hath
led me and brought me into darkness, but not into light. Now here
the Lord Jesus speaks. of the providential hidings of
God's face. Now, think back what we just
read in Isaiah 53. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. It pleased the Lord. He was smitten
of God. What happened? This is the Lord. This is the Lord speaking. Here He is. He speaks of God's
hiding His face from Him. He's led me and brought me into
darkness. The one that was led as a lamb
to the slaughter. The sheep before the shearer
was done. He opened not his mouth. He was led and brought by Jehovah. Just as the Lord Jesus Christ
was led by the Spirit of God into the wilderness. He said,
He has led me. He brought me to this place.
He ordered my steps. I'm here to do His will. in the
redemption of His people? God who has eternally loved them
is going to save them. What's He going to do? He's going
to forgive them, but He's going to forgive them in absolute justice
being served. He's not going to sweep it under
the cover. It's going to be fair. It's going to be fair. It's going
to be right. And He's brought me to this place.
He brought me into darkness. He brought me into distress.
He brought me into misery and affliction and calamity. But not into light. What does
that mean? Into the happiness and prosperity
of God's deliverance. That's what it means. Into light. He didn't deliver me. That's
what He said. He brought me into darkness and not into the joy
of His deliverance. Verse 3, Surely against me is
He turned. He turneth His hand against me
all the day. Speaking of His beloved Father,
the One before whom Christ was ever. ever with. The one who
delighted in the Son, that Father, the one that rejoiced, this is
my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. You that anointed me to be the
substitute, anointed me to be the Lamb. It was the Father that
loved Him, that was one with Him. He said, the father in unbending
justice is fair. I mean, I think, I just, I can't
even imagine, I can't even imagine, I mean, you take any father,
any mother toward one of their children. I mean, we're always
going to be, you know, lenient, we're going to look fine, look
for the best. Almighty God, was just, just. And He said He, against Me is
He turned, turned. He was the Father that turned,
turned His affection, turned away His mercy from Christ. Then the course, let me say it
like this, of His providence was revealed. at the same one
that spoke from heaven before He physically went to the cross. This is My beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. You hear Him. But I'm telling
you, He said, when these words from the cross When He was bruised,
when He was afflicted, when He was smitten of the Father, God
Almighty, when He was made sin, when sin was found upon Him,
He said, against Me He is turned. He is turned in absolute justice. The course of His providence,
is what I'm saying, was revealed in wrath. against him. The Lord prayed for this. In
John chapter 17, in his high priestly prayer, first verse,
John 17, these words speak, Jesus lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify Thee." He prayed that the Father would render
him openly to be the glorious substitute, the glorious Lamb,
the Redeemer. He said, Lord, glorify me openly
as your obedient servant. who is coming to this world to
redeem your people from their sins. You're chosen, you're elect. The One that laid down His life
for the sheep and only for the sheep. Glorify Thou Me, is what
He was saying. Surely against Me is His hand
turned, and He turneth His hand against Me all the day. What
He said was this, the Father smoked and smoked and smoked
with unceasingness until it was finished. How long? He hung on that cross. As long
as it was, it was. And there the hand of mercy and
compassion was turned from Him that it might be turned toward
His people. Listen, Zechariah 13, 7. Awake,
O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my
fellow, saith the Lord of hosts. Smite the shepherd, and the sheep
shall be scattered, and I will turn mine hand, that is, in mercy,
upon the little ones. You smite the shepherd. The sheep
will be scattered, but I won't forget my mercy. with justice
being satisfied in the stead of God's people in Christ. Justice
being satisfied in Him for them, the elect. His hand of judgment
being turned toward Christ and away from His people. We've got
some hope. Verse 4, My flesh and my skin
hath He made old. He has broken my bones. Yes,
the God-man. One who suffered the anguish
of His enemies, humanly speaking. One who was in all points tempted
like as we are. The Scripture says He was worn
out, spent in His flesh. The Jews even questioned Him
when He said before, Abraham was, I am. Abraham saw my day,
rejoiced to see my day. They said, you're not even 50
years old. No, he was about 33. But he wore. You know, this is
an amazing thing concerning the humanity. He was made in the
likeness of sinful flesh, yet without sin. I've said this before,
but it still just amazes me how the humanity of Christ All of
the aspects of our humanity, except for sin, was His. You know why I'm getting older?
You are too. You know why? Sin. The effects
of sin. This body wearing out. And His
body was worn with the effects of sin and He never knew sin. He was made like us and all of
the frailties that we... I get older every day and I feel
it. I can't do stuff I used to do. I get tired faster and stuff
like that. He said, my flesh and my skin
if He made old, He has broken my bones. He'd broken my bone,
not literally, because it was prophesied that none of his bones
would ever be broken. In John 19, it was recorded to
that effect. John 19, 34. One of the soldiers
with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out
blood and water. And he saw that it bare record,
and his record's true, he knoweth that he sayeth true that you
might believe. done that the Scriptures should be fulfilled,
a bone of Him shall not be broken. It was recorded in Exodus 12
and Numbers 9. Not one of His bones would be
broken. There's a message there talking
about the bones of His people, His body. None of them would
be broken. It's a good message. But humanly speaking, none of
His bones. But He says right here, He said,
He hath broken My bones. What did he mean? Well, I think
Isaiah 38, turn there, Isaiah 38, I want you to look at this.
Isaiah chapter 38, verse 9 to 13. Isaiah 38, 9 to 13. The writing of Hezekiah, king
of Judah, when he had been sick and was recovered of his sickness,
I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates
of the grave. I am deprived of the residue
of my years. I said, I shall not see the Lord,
even the Lord, in the land of the living. I shall behold man
no more with the inhabitants of the world. My age has departed. To remove from me is a shepherd's
tent. I have cut off like a weaver
in my life. He will cut me off with pining
sickness. From day even to night wilt thou
make an end of me. I reckoned till morning that
as a lion, so will he break all my bones. From day even to night,
wilt thou make an end of me." Now Hezekiah was saying something. When he said this, I'm going
to die. The Lord has shown me that I'm
going to, and he's, you know, he's pining away. He feels it. He said, I'm like a lion that's
having all my bones. Well, they weren't literally
crushed. but what he was saying in the
sufferings that he was going through. That was a way of saying,
like a lion takes an animal and just crushes his bones, and the
tremendous pain that he suffers, and he dies, he just dies. He
said, well, the Lord's shown me I'm going to die. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ,
back in Lamentations 4, talking of his sufferings, he felt what
he was experiencing. We read back in Isaiah 53 and
it says he was bruised, he was afflicted, and we just read over
those words and he said, I was like an animal that a lion takes
and crushes and feels the pain of that. But he suffered and
he felt it like as all of his bones were broken. Verse 5. He hath builded against me, encompassed
me with gall and travail." Now, here the Savior sets forth that
the Father had set, as it were, a siege against Him. John Calvin said that the Lord
was blocked up and in a strait with walls. He was hemmed up. There was no escape. what He
was saying. Verse 5, He has builded against
me, encompassed me with gall, poison, but that word, travail. He surrounded me with bitterness
and anguish and travail. Look at, hold your place, Psalm
22. Here's the psalm of our Lord's
suffering. Psalm 22, verse 12 to 19. The Lord speaking prophetically,
many bulls have compassed me. Strong bulls of Bashan have beset
me around. They gaped upon me with their
mouths as a ravening, roaring lion. I'm poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint.
My heart is like wax. It's melted in the midst of my
bowels. My strength is dried up like
a potsherd. My tongue cleaveth to my jaws,
and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. But dogs have
encompassed me. The assembly of the wicked have
enclosed me. They pierce my hands and my feet.
I may tell all my bones. They look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them,
cast lots upon my vesture. But be thou not far from me,
O Lord. O my strength, haste thee to
help. Me. You think he felt what he
endured? Let me ask you this. You think being
cast out from the presence of the Lord, you think a rebel against
God will go through eternity? Eternity? Try to think eternity. You can't
do it. When you think that you'd be
to the end, it'll never end. It will never end. It will never
end. The worm dieth not. The suffering. What does a rebel against God
deserve? He deserves punishment. He deserves it. What did Christ
endure? He endured it. And what was He
saying? He has besieged me, encompassed
me with gall and travail. Oh, bulls, he said, bulls of
Bashan sent me about. Buffeted with soldiers, stuck,
just being reproached by the scribes and Pharisees in the
midst of, you know, but forsaken of the Father. He said in verse 6, He set me
in dark places as they that be dead of old. Now that was a quote from Psalm
143 verse 3 when our Lord stood in our place at the cross and
He felt in His sufferings that which was due us, except the
Lord interposed Himself. He said he was placed and caused
to dwell in darkness, and if I'm not wrong, I believe in the
darkness of the grave, but for sure the darkness of being alone. He was alone. He hung, he tried
the wine press God's wrath by Himself. He said, I was sent
in darkness, in dark places. They that be dead of old, by
themselves. Who's in the grave with a person
that's been laid in the grave? That person. By themselves. Where are they? In a casket.
How dark is it? No light. Nothing. He says that's where He put me.
Verse 7, He's hedged me about that I cannot get out. He made
my chain heavy. The chain of His affliction,
confinement, according to the everlasting counsel of Almighty
God, His providence for Him to suffer. This is the miracle of
God's mercy, grace. God Almighty is going to deal
with the sins of His people. He's going to deal with them.
He did in the person. Hold your place and turn to Psalm
88. Psalm 88. He's going to deal with them. In Psalm 88, I'd like to read
verses 1 to 8. Psalm 88. Oh Lord, God of my salvation, I
have cried day and night before Thee. Let my prayer come before
Thee. Incline Thine ear unto my cry,
for my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws nigh unto the
grave. I'm counted with them that go
down into the pit. I am as a man that hath no strength. free among the dead, like the
slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more. They are cut off from my hand.
Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.
Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with
all thy ways. Selah, thou hast put away Mine
acquaintance, far from me, thou hast made me an abomination unto
them. I am shut up, and I cannot come
forth. He said in verse 7, back in Lamentations
3, He's hedged me about. I cannot get out. He's made my
chain heavy. He would not. He, in obedience,
laid down His life. But he could not get out. God
Almighty led him to that place. And in absolute obedience, he
did what he did. And God kept him there. Verse
8, Also when I cry and I shout, he shutteth out my prayer. That's an amazing thought. When
a sinner under the convicting power of God's Spirit cries unto
the Lord for deliverance, the Lord will hear. When a sinner
moved by the Spirit of God cries, when God gives a man a new heart,
he will then cry. He will then call upon the Lord.
He will. He's going to come to the Lord
in his heart. By faith, he will come. He ain't going to argue
with God no more. I can tell you that. He'll quit
arguing with God. When he calls, God will hear. Joel 2.32, Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. The Lord declares that he's not
only ready to hear the cry of His people. But He knows the
cry before they utter it because He's the one that gave them a
heart to cry. He do. Before they cry, He's gonna call.
He's gonna call. How do you know? I'm gonna give
them a heart. Isaiah 65, 24. It shall come to pass that before
they call, I will answer. While they're yet speaking, I
will hear. That's an amazing thing to me. Before they call,
I'm gonna answer. What's He gonna do? He's gonna
give them a heart according to His will and purpose. He's going
to give them a heart. Before they call, He said, I'm
going to answer. I'm going to give you a heart
and you're going to call. I'm going to hear and I'll deliver you. That's
sovereign grace. That's sovereign grace. But with
the Lord, who in covenant agreement, willingly bore the guilt and
the penalty of our sin, when He cried, God wouldn't hear. Let me ask you this. A man or
a woman who in the day of God's judgment experiences, experiences
the voice of the Lord. Cast him out. Cast him out. What recourse do you think that
man or woman will have? None. None. You think one that
cries out of hell that God will hear them? I'm telling you, today
is the day of salvation. My friend, you're in the day
of grace right now. I'm telling you, I'm telling you according
to these scriptures that are not gonna pass away. They're
not gonna pass away. I'm telling you right now. You
leave this world without Christ, you'll never forget today. Remember
what I'm saying right now. You'll never forget today. But
when He, as the substitute for God's elect, the one that bore,
He actually became them. He said, when I cry and shout,
He shutteth out my prayer. He would not hear. He would not hear. Why? Because He said, I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy. I'm a just God. I'm a just God
and a Savior. Christ is the man that has seen
the affliction of the rod of God's wrath. Justice was rendered
to Him that God's people might go free. God's fair. He's fair. He was led to the place of distress
and calamity and affliction and not allowed to behold the light
or the joy of God's deliverance. He led me into darkness and not
into light. God wouldn't let him see the
light of deliverance. No. God's hand was turned against
him in judgment. that God's hand of mercy might
be turned toward us, His sheep. He therefore was worn in His
human nature by the bitterness and the travail of His soul that
He suffered. God, according to His good pleasure
to deliver us from the penalty of our sins, put a siege upon
Him and enclosed Him with bitterness and anguish and travail and would
not let him go. He could not get out. Jeremiah said, verse 21, this,
this I recall to my mind and therefore have I hope. I've got some hope
because I'm going to tell you something. By faith, I believe
that He endured that for me. I believe He did. I believe Him,
Fred. I believe Him. I believe Him. Do I deserve it? No, I don't deserve it. And you don't either. You don't
deserve it. For by grace are you saved through faith and not
of yourself. It was a gift of God. I don't
want to argue with God. I want to call upon the Lord.
I want the Lord to save me. He's going to do what He wants
to do. Lord, have mercy on me. Could it be that You'll have
mercy on a sinner like me for Your glory and my eternal good?
I pray so.