I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Lamentations.
That's Lamentations if you sort of find Isaiah and then Jeremiah,
and immediately after Jeremiah is the book of Lamentations.
Lamentations chapter 3. This blessed book, Lamentations,
it records the heart suffering of the prophet Jeremiah. There's no doubt about that. God had called him a prophet. Jeremiah was the one that the
Lord said, before I formed you in the belly, I ordained you
a prophet. And Jeremiah really beheld the
condition of God's people. Let me just read these. I'm not
going to read every verse, but I'm going to make some Just a
comment. In verse 1 of chapter 1, Jeremiah said how she is become
as a widow. How doth the city sit solitary
that was full of people? How is she become a widow? Look at verse 5. Her adversaries
are the chief. Her enemies prosper, for the
Lord hath afflicted her. For the multitude of her transgressions,
her children are gone into captivity before the enemy. Look at verse
1 of chapter 2. How hath the Lord covered the
daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from
heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not
his footstool in the day of his anger. Look at verse 10 of chapter
2. The elders of the daughter of
Zion sit upon the ground and keep silence. They've cast up
dust upon their heads. They've girded themselves with
sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the
ground. And then in verse 13 of chapter
2, Jeremiah asks this question, What thing shall I take to witness
for thee. What thing 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?" Here's what
he's asking, how can I comfort you? How? Now without a doubt, this truly
was the state of Israel. And Jeremiah saw it and it grieved
him. You know, a pastor called of
God, one that watches for the souls of God's people. And he
himself experiences the inward fighting and strivings of sin,
but he also grieves for the Lord's people who he knows experiences
the same thing. I know something of the war that
goes on within you because it goes on within me. And it grieves
me seeing it in me, and it grieves me seeing it in you as it grieves
you seeing it in you. But in her state, in the state
of Israel, of natural Israel, Israel, remember, is a picture
of God's elect. And natural Israel did show in
type what God's people are and do as being born in Adam. And I've said before, remember,
we can't talk about that, well, I used to be like that. Well,
I used to be a wretched man. I used to be one that was inconsistent. Oh, wretched man that I am! That
I am! That I am! A believer is one that so sees
the strivings within, he got to have constant comfort. Doesn't
he, Brother Frank? He got to have comfort. Help
me. Help me. Comfort ye. Comfort ye, my people. I want
to be a comfort. I need some comfort. I get so
tired of me. I get so tired of me. Seeing that old nature, By nature, rebels against God,
deserving wrath. Thanks be unto God, not receiving
it. Not to God's people. I've said
before, we've never been under the wrath of God. Always accepted
in the Beloved. From before the foundation of
the world, predestinated to the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ Himself. Holy. Without blame. Accepted, accepted in the Beloved. Lord, help me to believe that.
I want to believe that. I believe it and I want to believe
it. Why? Why do we find these striving? Why do we see them? Because,
well, Isaiah 64 says we're all as an unclean thing. And all
of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. I don't ever step out of this
pulpit thinking I've done a good job. That's a fact. That's a fact. I don't know a grace preacher
that doesn't agree with that. Brother Scott told me one time,
he said nobody ever has to tell a gospel preacher that it didn't
run well. He said if it didn't, he knows
it. He knows it. The only thing I hope is that
God be pleased to bless it in spite of me. There's not a redeemed
and regenerated sinner that would say anything other than that
verse that I quote all the time, Lord, thou shouldest mark iniquity,
who shall stand? But how could God Almighty who
is just, and I know He is. He said, I'm a just God. How
can He show mercy? How? How? How? He's going to
have to deal with my sin. I know that. He's going to have
to do it in justice because He's a just God. He's not going to
pretend to deal with it. He's going to really deal with
it. God doesn't pretend. He does not pretend. He must
deal with my sin in righteousness, and for God Almighty to deal
with my sin in righteousness, and for me to go free, Christ
must answer. When I say, in my stead, I mean
what I say all the time, as my absolute substitute. He got to be made sin. And when God Almighty who made
him sin. He hath made him sin, who knew
no sin. In order of that, we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. Our sin is going to have
to be dealt with. And the just is going to have
to die for the unjust. He's going to have to die because
that's what I deserve. Sold sinneth is going to die.
I need Him to answer. He must endure. He must victoriously
defeat all that opposes me. Sin, Satan, death, the grave,
that this sinner might have life. I mean, it's not a game. It's real. And knowing that,
knowing that He has born what I am and died as being made me. I've said before, I can understand
it. If I was hanging there, everything
that would happen, I deserve. But I was there. If I know Him,
if I've got any hope, I was there, crucified with Him. Now knowing
that, I want us to look very quickly, and I'll not labor long. I'm going to do the first 21
verses, what I'm going to do, and I'll be quick. But these
first 18 verses gives an account of the sufferings of the Lord
Jesus Christ in the stead, in the place being made sin. This
is what the Scripture has to say concerning His suffering. This is what happened. Now as
we read these, may the Spirit of God bless us to understand
that. This is what happened. Verse 1, chapter 3, Lamentations. I am the man. that hath seen
affliction by the rod of his wrath." Who could speak of this as a
matter of past tense? Now look, I am the man that hath
seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. Who could say that
as a matter of past tense except the one who was the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world? I'm going to tell you right now,
it's going to get way over our heads being real fast. Real fast. But it does not change the fact.
God is eternal. Now we're dealing in time. The
Lord Jesus Christ was made sin in time. He made flesh in time. But the Father has always, always
seen it. And the Lord Jesus Christ said,
I'm the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. Now
listen to this, this is Isaiah 53, 4 and 5. Speaking of the
one that hath borne our griefs and carried, now this is Old
Testament. and carried our sorrows, smitten
of God, afflicted, wounded for our transgression, bruised for
our iniquities. You know why God has always accepted
us in the Beloved? Because He's always trusted in
His Son and seen the blood shed. It happened in time, but in the
heart of God, His will, His purpose, it is. It is. God Almighty ever beheld. I am the man. He hath led me
and brought me into darkness and not into light as a sheep
to the slaughter. He led me, brought me into darkness,
the hiding of His face. Surely against me is He turned. He turneth His hand against me
all the day. My God, my God. Psalm 22, verse
1. Why hast thou forsaken me? There
was none to help. There was none to help. My flesh and my skin hath He
made old. He hath broken my bones. According to Scriptures, he was
a man of sorrows, and he bore in his body the effect
of sorrows, griefs, made him appear older. John 8, 57, he
said, before Abraham was, I am. And the Jews said, Thou art not
yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Look at Job
16, let's hold your finger right there. Job 16, verse 7 to 11, Job speaking, But now he hath
made me weary, thou hast made desolate all my company, and
thou hast filled me with wrinkles. which is a witness against me,
and my leanness rising up in me, beareth witness to my face. He teareth me in his wrath, who
hateth me, gnasheth upon me with his teeth. My enemy sharpeneth
his eyes upon me. They have gaped upon me with
their mouth. They have smitten me upon the
cheek reproachfully. They have gathered themselves
together against me. God hath delivered me. to the
ungodly, turn me over into the hands of the wicked." Who do
you think really spoke those words? Our Lord. Our Lord. He says in verse 4, latter part,
He said, He hath broken my bones. It's not talking about the bones
of His people who were never broken. They never were. But
this one right here is speaking of the words of our Lord bearing
the guilt of the backslidings of His people. I want to show
you that. Psalm 51 verse 8. This is that great psalm of confession. When David had gone into Bathsheba
and taken her and killed her husband. Nathan came to him and
said, you're the man. You're the man. And here's the
great confession of David. Look at verse 8, Psalm 51. Make me to hear joy and gladness
that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Lord, you've
convicted me. You've shown me what I am. I'm
just a broken, broken man. to hear joy. Help me. Look at verse 5 back in Lamentation
3. He hath builded against me, encompassed me with gall and
truth, Baal. To that point of being exceeding
sorrowful, sweating, the Scripture says in Luke 22, verse 44, as
it were, great drops of blood you brought me. Here he was bearing. in his own body, guilt of his
people, sweating as it were, great drops of blood. Verse 6
says, He has set me in dark places as they that be dead of old.
The Father set him in dark places. He died, buried. Verse 7, He hath hedged me about
that I cannot get out. He has made my chain heavy. Psalm 88 verse 8 says, I'm shut
up. I cannot come forth. I can't
come forth. Truly it was the Father that
bound him. But I'll tell you this, he willingly
submitted himself and bound himself obediently to the wrath of God.
I laid down my life. Isaac and Abraham going up. Here's the fire. Here's the wood. Where's the lamb? My son, God
will provide Himself a lamb. No record given of Isaac refusing. He bound him on that altar. God stopped him. You know the
story. He says, He's hedged me about. I cannot get up. Made
my chain heavy. Verse 8, also, when I cry and
shout, he shutteth out my prayer. Psalm 22. Oh my God, I cry in
the day. I cry in the day, in the daytime,
but thou hearest not. And in the night season, I'm
not silent. You know, the very thought that
God would not hear. That we would cry and God would
not hear. But the Lord said, when I cry
and shout, He shutteth out my prayer. You have a man or woman under
the wrath of God in the day of judgment. Lord, we've prophesied
Your name. Lord, we went to church, we read
our Bibles, we've done many wonderful works. Depart from me. He said, you're
going to cry. And he said, I'm not going to
hear you. I'm not going to hear you. And that attitude of rebellion
against him that deserves that response from the Lord, is found
in every one of us. You remember this. There's none
righteous, no not one. And if God Almighty would not
hear him when he cried in wrath, spewing out that judgment against
him that we deserved, what do you think is going to happen
in the day of judgment? He hath enclosed my ways with
hewn stone, He hath made my paths crooked. He was unto me, verse 10, as
a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places. He hath
turned aside my ways and pulled me in pieces. He hath made me
desolate. He hath bent His bow and set
me as a mark for the arrow. He hath caused the arrow of His
quiver to enter into my reins." Let me tell you what I summed
up. In verses 9 to 13, what God Almighty
did toward the Lord Jesus Christ, His sufferings in the stead of
His people, God did what He did on purpose. He did it on purpose. The Father's wrath against us
in Him. I said that just exactly the
way I wanted to say it. We ourselves, never under the
wrath of God, but in Him He bore what we deserved. We're chargeable. But when the Lord Jesus Christ
bore the guilt of His people, what God did, He did on purpose
because He's a just God. You think, He's enclosed my ways
with hewn stone. He made my past crooked. God did what He did on purpose. It was deliberate. And so will
be the wrath of God against the ungodly in that day. His wrath
against His Son was powerful. No escaping, no escaping the
fullness of His vengeance. The Father plunged the sword
of His justice into Christ, and Christ, for the sake of His people,
in His people's stead, in their place, He consumed it. This is
the reason why we say, therefore now no condemnation to them that
be in Christ Jesus. He suffered it all. He bore it
all. He bore it all. And how thankful
I am because I'm telling you what I do right now. There's enough lack of faith
in me right now while I'm preaching to put me in hell. I know it. I know it and I admit it. And
but for the grace of God, I'd be in that very place. He has
done to him what I deserve. And he did it on purpose. Look
at verse 14. I was a derision to all my people,
and their song all the day. Psalm 69, 12 says, They that
sit in the gates speak against me. I was the song of the drunkards. Let me tell you this, the drunkards,
the ones that drink the wine, of the fornication. This is according
to Revelation 17 of the great whore. False religion is referred
to as the wine of fornication. It's an intoxicant that men drink
and they're drunk. The Lord, speaking of Himself,
I was a derision to all my people in their song. all the day. I'm talking about His people
and their attitude toward Him, that old man, before conversion
without any kind of restraint whatsoever. We were all children
of wrath, even as others. Oh, but God who is merciful to
His people, He gave them a new heart. And he said, I'll remove
that heart of stone. Remember I told you, I said,
it doesn't mean that that old man is gone. He's just beheaded. He's beheaded. Sin shall not
have dominion over you. But if you think that that old
man is not still there, then you have yet to know him. Because you know it. You know
it. You feel that heart. It strives against that new man. There's a war going on inside. God's people know that. Verse
15, He's filled me with bitterness. He has made me drunken with wormwood. He alone drank the dregs. of God's wrath, Isaiah 51, 17,
Thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling and wrung
them out. I don't know the depth of what
He's done for me, but I can tell you just reading these verses,
I know something. I can see something. The depth
of it, I wouldn't even remotely insinuate that I understand the
depth of it. But I can tell you this, He's
the man that's seen the affliction of the rod of God's wrath. What
does that mean? I don't know. But whatever it
means, I can tell you this, I don't want to bear it without Him. I don't want to find out apart
from Him. Not from Him. But verse 16, He hath also broken
my teeth with gravel stones. He hath covered me with ashes." Hold your place right there and
turn to Proverbs 20 verse 17. Proverbs 20 verse 17. Proverbs 20, 17, bread of deceit
or bread of lying or falsehood is sweet to a man, but afterwards
his mouth shall be filled with gravel. I'm going to tell you, and I
think that what I've read concerning that passage of Scripture, I've
tried to look at some men that I truly have some confidence
in, in commentaries, and I think that I think they're right. Mr. Gill, Mr. Hawker, this is
what they insinuated. This is something I gleaned from
them. I'll share it with you. It's
like bread that would be made and grind in the mill and got
the good stuff, but if something falls on the floor and you know
you sweep it up, kind of sweep it up, you don't want to waste
it. And you make some bread out of it. It's not the best bread.
Maybe the discount bread, something like that. And you eat it, you
know. And it's got a lot of good stuff
in it. You know false religion has got
a lot of truthful things in it. But you know what is bad about
it? Just a little leaven leavens
the whole lump. I can tell you I believe, or
someone were to tell me, let's say this, I believe in salvation
by grace, I'm with you. I believe salvation is of the
Lord, I'm with you. I believe that God Almighty is
going to do as He will, I'm with you. And then they say, but now
all you have to do, I said, now I'm going to not be with you
here. Now, here's where we're going apart, right? Whatever
you're about to say is going to just negate everything that
you just told me or that I thought you were telling me. Let me say
it like this. But what is being said here when the Lord says,
you know, He's talking about this gravel, verse 16, He also
hath broken my teeth with gravel stones, He hath covered me with
ashes. What His people loved, He bore
the brunt of, before they were converted, what they loved. He
bore the brunt. He bore the judgment. He who
knew no sin and had pleasure only in hearing and speaking
that which his father had said, now bearing the sins of his people
in his own body, he ate the wrath of his father. The penalty of
what they would, by nature, before consider to be sweet. There was
a time, I'm telling you, I grew up in false religion. I've told you that. And I believed
it and I loved it. I loved it. I'd eat that. I truly believed if I went and
confessed my sins, to this knucklehead on the other
side of a little thing like that, I don't know what they call it.
I believe that that guy could forgive my sin. I believe that. But I'm telling you, that's sweet
to an unbeliever. But it's got gravel in it. And
it's gritty. You ever break an egg scramble
you an egg and have a little piece of the shell in it. I don't like that. The Lord bore
the brunt. He bore the guilt. He bore the
judgment of what I once considered to be sweet to me and put it
away. Verse 17-18, and thou hast removed
my soul far off from peace. I forgot prosperity. And I said,
my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord. Being made sin,
his strength, his hope perished from the Lord. He died. He continued not. Being made
flesh, His blood was shed, ceased to flow, and natural strength,
He was flesh. God in flesh was exhausted. He gave up the ghost, died at
the hand of Almighty God for His people. Oh, the indescribable
depth of His sufferings. But now in these last three verses,
I've got some good news. This is what he bore. These last
three verses gloriously set forth. Our great high priest interceding
on behalf of his people, his bride pleading his own merit
on their behalf and his precious blood shed for them. Listen to this. What he's borne,
was just set forth in the first 18 verses. Now listen to this.
He says now, remembering my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and
the gall, my soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled
or is bowed in me. This I recall This is made to
return to my heart. This I recall to my mind, therefore
have I hope." He says, remembering mine affliction, ever beholding
the sacrifice, ever remembering that which he
bore. Here is the one truly speaking. the Lord Jesus Christ, and He
declares, in the midst of all my sufferings, no injustice was
done. No injustice was done. Here was
the just One, and when He was made sin, there was no injustice. God's just, and what He did,
He did to Him because I deserved it. And He bore what I deserved. What He bore. He suffered in
our stead. And now that blood ever speaks. It ever speaks. God ever remembers
to show mercy. When I see the blood, and I'm
thankful that God Almighty sees the blood this morning, and God
in judging this world, is going to show mercy to the objects
of His love for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. What He bore.
What He bore. And I said, I'm the man that's
seen affliction by the rod of His wrath. He led me against
me as He turned. My skin, my flesh He made whole,
built against me, compassed me with gall and travail, on and
on and on. And he said, I remember. I remember. And he says, and I have hope.
And I do too. I do too. Lord, that which you
have borne, Lord, have mercy upon me for
your name's sake.