May it please almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in his holy word. Let us turn to the book of Lamentations
and the first chapter and we'll read verse 12. The Lamentations
of Jeremiah, chapter one and reading 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. The Book of Lamentations is a
very wonderful account that Jeremiah sets before us. It's really quite
different to the prophecy. Prophecy, of course, as we know,
is very much longer, and this, by comparison, is very short.
And it really describes to us the spiritual scene which was
evidence to Jeremiah after what he'd prophesied had come to pass. And the children of Judah were
no longer living in Jerusalem apart from just a mere handful
which were left behind to look after the vineyards and the fields. The rest were taken away captive
And of course, Babylon was a long way away. It wasn't around the
corner. It was a day's journey, many
days journey to get there. So there wasn't any opportunity
of suddenly returning for the odd day. And so there they were
separated. And really this account that
we read together gives us, I think, three pictures really. First
of all, it gives us the picture of the historical situation of
Jerusalem then we can really compare that with the current
day situation that we have in our own nation and then also
then there's the the prophetic picture in this twelfth verse
of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ and of course the
great question for each one of us is it nothing to us as we
pass by such an account, and if we pass by the very many references
to the life and death and resurrection and ascension and intercession
of the Savior, what does it mean to us individually? Well, we have so many faithful
accounts recorded in the Bible for our instruction. And those
faithful accounts tell us that what God says through the prophets
does come to pass. And those promises and those
words which God puts forth in his word today to us are true. And we should never think that
we can get around them, or we can avoid them, or they may have
no reference to us in our lives. We should be concerned to do
that which is right in the sight of God. Now clearly, Judah and
Israel of old, how they ignored the many warnings which the prophets
gave. Ezekiel and Jeremiah and Isaiah
gave faithful prophecies and faithful words. And if you consider
those three prophecies, they're long prophecies. They occupy
a large part of the Word of God. And yet we see that Israel or
Judah, as it principally was, they just ignored them and thought
they could get away with ignoring them. But we should always remember
that God is faithful and God does not speak those things in
those days or at any day or any time as something which is irrelevant. We should always be concerned
to take on board the truth of God, believing that it will come
to pass. And you see, you and I can take
that right through our life. Indeed, right through the the
world and the history of the world and the outcome of the
world. And the word of God tells us very clearly that this world,
as it is today, will not exist forever. God has determined a
time when the end of time will come. And therefore, the Lord
sets before us the condition of the human race. And the condition
of the human race is very clear. They have offended God. They've
turned against God. They've turned their back upon
God. And we see today, and through history, so many false religions
in the scripture so often There was the false religion of Baal.
It still exists today. And how sad it was that many
people followed that. And it was not a real religion.
And as we know, I'm sure, on that occasion when Elijah lived,
and there was that test as to who was the true God. And all the priests of Baal were
not able to arouse who they thought was their God, because there
was no God. And therefore they failed in
that position that was set before them to bring down fire. from
heaven to consume the sacrifice on Mount Carmel. But then we
have the wonderful picture of Elijah praying to God. It's a lovely prayer and it shows
to us his confidence in God. And we see the wonderful result
that God came down and sent that fire which consumed the sacrifice
and consumed the altar and consumed the water around the altar. Nothing was left. What a very
clear demonstration that who was the God. And the result was
that all the people spoke and said, the Lord, he is the God. Well, my friends, today we should
be thankful to know that the Lord today is still the God. And we do have evidences for
which we should still be thankful today that the Lord does appear
and the Lord does hear and answer prayer. It's a blessing if you
and I in our little lives can look back and see times when
God has appeared for us. And so often, perhaps God has
appeared and not perhaps the way that we expected, and may
perhaps not be the way that we wanted. But nonetheless, he did
appear, he did answer. And what a mercy it is, therefore,
to know that still today we have a God who hears and answers prayer. And yet, the solemnity is that
That God is the same God that the Israelites disobeyed. And you know, as you trace back
and trace through the history we have in the Word of God of
Israel of old, how many times they disobeyed God and how many
times the Lord judged them and came and slew many of them. Remember when they turned against
God and the Lord in the wilderness and the Lord sent serpents snakes
to bite them with poisonous venom and many died and many were bitten
and There was that situation where Moses was commanded to
make a brazen serpent which he did and put it on a pole. And
all the people were told who were bitten to look to that serpent
on a pole and to be healed. And of course, it was a picture
really of the great and glorious savior on the cross. Because there is healing. Healing of our soul. if by the
grace of God we look to the Lord Jesus Christ. We have that glorious
verse, look unto me and be saved for I am God and there is none
else. No one else can save us all. Well, Israel sadly so often ignored
the many gracious words of exhortation and words of direction and carried
on in their own sinful way. But nonetheless, the time came
when God fulfilled his word. And what happened was that Nebuchadnezzar
came with his army and besieged Jerusalem and took all the people
captive, apart from just a few, and destroyed it. The temple
was all broken down. The walls are broken down. The
gates were broken down. It was a place of desolation. And that's really the picture
that Jeremiah tells us about in this account that we've read
together. A scene of desolation. The miserable estate of Jerusalem. The miserable condition of the
people of Israel. There they were taken away captive. Well, that's a picture that we
have and a warning that we have. And of course, in reality today
in the world, as we mentioned this morning, we really have
not a dissimilar situation. We don't perhaps have quite the
same in regard to Jerusalem as it was in those days. It's not
now as it was. But there is the Church of God
as Jerusalem. And what a departure has been
from following the truth of God. And many people have been sidetracked
to follow false religions. So many false religions exist
today, many religions which make out to be Christian. In reality,
they are not. They're those religions which
the devil has brought into being. They're false religions. And
there's no saving knowledge in those religions. And yet what
a mercy it is that there is today the true God. There is today
the true way of salvation. There is that which is clearly
set before us in the Bible. And we have the Bible, which
describes to us precisely the right way. And what a mercy it
is, therefore, if you and I receive grace to follow the wonderful
pattern we have in the word of God and to be found in our time
of need. And all of us, my friends, have
need. We all have a need, a need of
a savior to deliver us from ourself and to save us from our sin. Well, I believe this twelfth
verse gives us a little picture, really, of prophecy. When it
asks the question, is it nothing to you, all you that pass by? In those days, the people that
passed by Jerusalem didn't have any real effect upon them. And
today as people receive the Word of God and read the Word of God
and read about the great and glorious way of salvation that
the Lord Jesus brought into being through his wonderful life and
death and resurrection and intercession, people ignore it. People don't
believe it. They don't believe in Jesus. And yet we're told Jesus is the
way. He says, Jesus tells us himself,
I am the way. I am the truth. And I am the life. There's no other way. There's
no other way. You and I, my friends, can never
earn our salvation. Salvation is a free gift. The Word of God tells us very
clearly, the gift of God is eternal life. The gift of God is eternal
life. You and I don't work for a gift,
do we? People give us things, we don't deserve them probably,
but God, people give us things. And what a mercy it is therefore,
If God gives us the gift of eternal life and we realize that we cannot
give ourselves eternal life, we cannot turn to God. What a
mercy it is, therefore, to realize that we have a God who is kind
and gracious and gives that wonderful gift of eternal life. How needful, how wonderful it
is if you and I are those who receive, who have received, and
do receive it. And every one of us needs to
receive it before we pass out of time. So here we have this
statement. Is it nothing to you, all you
that pass by, Is it nothing to us as we consider what the word
of God sets before us? It shows to us a glorious savior. It shows to us the wonderful
plan of salvation. And you see through that plan,
what does it do? It brings glory to God. It brings
honor to God. And we must always bear that
in mind. If you and I were able to save our own souls, we would
pat ourselves on the back. And we would therefore claim
a glory ourselves. And we would believe it was through
what we'd done. But God is a jealous God. And
God will have all the honor and all the glory. So what a mercy
it is. Therefore, tonight, if we realize
this question is very relevant, is it nothing to you, all you
that pass by the great plan of salvation? Is it nothing to us
tonight? Or is it a very real question
with us to know that we are amongst those who are truly saved. Those who are safe, safe in the
arms of Jesus. There's no safety outside of
Christ. If we're outside of Christ, we
shall perish in our sins. And my friends, what a terrible
thought that is. What a terrible truth it is. Because if you and I perish in
our sins, if we die without Christ, there's no hope and there never
will be. And we shall spend eternity alienated
from Christ and have to contend with that terrible position of
hell. It's a very, very solemn truth,
isn't it? And God has given us his word,
and today, what a mercy it is that we have the word of God
to describe to us our condition. Our condition as we stand before
a holy God, and we will stand before a holy God. And I wonder
if we can say today that we have stood before that holy God. And that holy God has shown to
us that we are an undone and lost sinner. And there's no hope
for us, naturally. We're lost. We're lost. and we need a saviour. But it's an unspeakable mercy
if God has brought you and me to stand before a holy God. Not a God that you and I can
argue with, not a God that you and I can disagree with, not
a God like ourselves, but the almighty God who holds our destiny
in his hand. And we should never think that
you and I can trifle with that almighty God. We have so many
evidences of it in the word of God, where people were struck
down because they disobeyed God. How many people today belittle
God? They treat God as themselves.
And yet we have a great God. And what a mercy if God gives
us a spiritual understanding to be able to meditate and to
think and to realize in some measure the greatness and powerfulness
of Almighty God. To think that he always has been. You and I can't work that out,
can we? We live in time. Time has a beginning. Time has an end. Eternity has
no beginning. Eternity has no end. And God
is eternal. God had no beginning. It's beyond
our minds, isn't it? We cannot understand such a truth
as that. And yet, true it is, God is God
without beginning and without end. And that is the God that
you and I have to deal with. Now, my friends, that God is
a just God. Is it nothing to you or you that
pass by? As we consider the word of God,
do we ignore it? Do we think it doesn't apply
to us? Do we think somehow we're above it? Well, none of us are. And the Word of God tells us
very clearly that all of us will stand before our Maker. So coming back to that question
I posed, have we stood before our Holy God? And in that position,
It's a good situation if we stand there and in the lines of the
hymn writer who said, nothing in my hand I bring, simply to
thy cross I cling. That means no hope in self. That means no possibility of
saving ourself. But what it means is this, looking
out of ourselves, looking beyond ourselves, to that great and
wonderful finished work of the Saviour. Yes, what a mercy to
be found looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of
our faith. You see, God, my friends, never
starts a work in the souls of his people which he doesn't finish. Because God never fails. And
therefore, if you and I can find there in our hearts the evidence
of God's work beginning. We can believe it will be completed. That we will be taken care of
through our little life on this earth and we will, by his grace,
be received into glory and we will live forever with the Lord. It's an amazing truth and it's
a wonderful prospect to the Church of God to realise that there
is a God who is merciful, a God who is compassionate, a God who
understands all about us. It's hard for us to realise.
We think how great God is to think that he understands every
thought and knows every thought. that I make and you make. And he's always known the thoughts
of everybody from Adam and Eve right down to the last person
that will be born on this earth. He knows all about us, every
detail. That's the great God that you
and I have to deal with. And I say that so true. We have to deal with that great
God. All of us have to deal with that
great God. There's no way of escape. There's
no way of escape. And therefore, here we have this
statement. Is it nothing to you or any that pass by? Yes, we have the great truths
contained in the word of God and to have some appreciation
of God's glory in that plan of salvation, because it comes like
this. When you and I stand before God
as an utterly unworthy sinner, not worthy of any mercy, any
notice, and yet to think that the Lord has drawn us to come
to that place where we stand before the majesty on high as
a guilty, undone sinner. And in that position, to plead
for mercy, plead for mercy. My friends, God is a merciful
God. God does hear an answer prayer. And we have some beautifully
simple words, don't we? Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened
unto you. Words, aren't they? You and I
can understand. They're gracious and glorious
invitations. What a mercy it is then to realize
that's the God, great as he is. and yet condescending as He is
to hear and answer prayer. And it would be a wonderful,
wonderful blessing if God has put that prayer into our hearts. To cry unto Him, cry unto Him
in a time when He may be found. You see, we're in time. We're
in a time when prayer can be uttered. When prayer can be answered,
if we pass out of time, that's the end. There is no opportunity
to pray. There's no opportunity to seek
unto the Lord. The time of grace will have passed. Well, bless God today that you
and I are in a time of grace. And again, to think that in that
time we are found with the Word of God to be able to read and
the ability to pray. And what a mercy it is when God
gives us the spirit of prayer. You may ask the question, what
is the spirit of prayer? Well, the spirit of prayer is
that which emanates from God. He gives to us. He gives to us
a desire to seek for mercy. He gives us a concern to pray
that we might be saved, delivered from the wrath to come, God's
wrath, which is towards lost sinners. Yes, my friends, If
we don't enjoy the mercy of God, we will enjoy, well we won't
enjoy, but we will have the wrath of God. So what a blessing for
us today if we know the mercy of God. Mercy, as the hymn writer
says, is welcome news indeed to those who guilty stand. If
you and I stand guilty before God, what good news it is. Good news of the Gospel. To know
there is mercy. To know that mercy is indeed
welcome news. Well, we should be thankful tonight
for it and that mercy comes to us. Not because we deserved it,
but because the Lord Jesus Christ has given it. We read the words
of Jesus In the 15th of John, he says, ye have not chosen me,
but I have chosen you and ordained you that ye should go and bring
forth fruit and that your fruit should remain. He spoke those
words in the upper room to disciples. And my friends, they've been
gloriously recorded for us to realize that we have a God. who has cause and chooses his
people. What a mercy then for us tonight
if we come within that position. Is it nothing to you, all ye
that pass by? Behold and see if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow. And we can think of that surely
with regard to the blessed Saviour who gave his life upon that cross
and all that he had to endure throughout his life on this earth,
continual opposition, continual temptation. We're told Jesus
was tempted in all points like as we are. There's one difference,
yet without sin. He never gave in to the temptation
of Satan. But he endured. He endured. And what sorrow there was as
he endured all that opposition continually. And to think that
he bore the punishment due to you and me himself. He paid the price. as we said
this morning, for our redemption. And the price required was the
death of a righteous man. And no one was righteous until
the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world and lived that perfect
life. He never sinned. He never sinned. And therefore, His life was an
acceptable sacrifice to take away and to pay the price, the
ransom price required to take away the sins of all His people. How willing was Jesus to die
that we fellow sinners should live the life they could not
take away how willing was Jesus to give. Wonderful to think that Jesus
was willing to give his life for such unworthy sinners as
you and me. What a Saviour we have. What
a God we have. What an amazing plan of salvation
we have to think that this glorious savior was willing to suffer. And again, the hymn writer tells
us, all incarnate God could bear with strength enough and none
to spare. And we just have a little insight
in his sufferings when he was in that garden of Gethsemane.
Yes, being in an agony. Yes, he dropped, as it were,
great drops of blood falling to the ground. And he prayed
that prayer, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless,
not my will, but thine be done. Total submission to his father. Total submission it had to be.
Otherwise He would not have been the Saviour. He had to submit
to the will of His Father. And you see, His Father set that
very high standard, that very high demand in order to redeem
our souls. Yes, the death of His only begotten
Son and that agonising death on that cross at Calvary. What a wonderful blessing it
is to be able to consider these things and to realize the wonder
of them. And so we have this statement
that ye may behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto
my sorrow. which is done unto me, wherewith
the Lord hath afflicted me in a day of his fierce anger. The
Lord suffered the anger of God on our behalf. We're told, aren't
we, those three hours on the cross, his father hid his face
there from eternity. He'd enjoyed that union with
his father, and now he suffered. for hiding in his Father's face,
so that you and I might receive the wonderful forgiveness of
all our sins and be able to say, I'm clean, just God, I'm clean,
not because of what I've done, but because of what the Saviour's
done. Oh, what a precious and glorious
truth it is. And as the Holy Spirit may lead
and direct us to understand the greatness of it, the greatness
of it, how little we really appreciate the wonder of our salvation,
to realize that you and I could not save ourselves, but the blessed
Savior did come and did save us and died in our place. He took our place. that place
which was ours to take, which if we'd done, if we'd given our
life, it would not have satisfied the holy demands of Almighty
God. But Jesus spent those 33 years
in preparation for his great and wonderful death upon that
cross at Calvary. No one can say He suffered an
easy death. Crucifixion is the worst, most
painful death. And that's why the Lord Jesus
suffered in that way. So no one would be able to say,
well of course he had an easy way out. The Saviour suffered
the most painful death and it was because You and I have sinned. Because you and I have offended
Almighty God. Because you and I are condemned
because of our sin. And we are eternally condemned
unless we receive the glory of forgiveness through the death
of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, it's a wonderful
theme and it's a theme which you and I should desire to think
upon and to meditate upon and to never be tired of because
it concerns the condition of our never-dying soul throughout
eternity. and to think there will then
be, by his grace, that time when that resurrection comes, that
we will be once again united to our glorified bodies and to
be found with all the saints in glory, that vast congregation
praising God forever and ever. And what a wonderful time that
will be. I say time because It's a wrong
statement, really. What a wonderful eternity it
will be. With Christ. And all the Church of God. All
in union. All in unison. In praising the
Saviour. And praising the Father. And praising the Son. And praising
the Holy Spirit. Beyond our natural understanding.
But what a mercy it is if God gives us faith to believe the
reality of the great truths set before us in the Word of God,
so that we may truly go on our way, rejoicing even tonight,
if we have the evidence that God in his amazing mercy has
loved us with everlasting love and has drawn us to himself. Surely we can come and praise
God from whom all blessings flow. Amen.