May it please almighty God to
bless us together this morning as we meditate in his word. Let
us turn to the Lamentations of Jeremiah and chapter five, and
we'll read from verse 19 to the end. That's the last four verses
in the Lamentations of Jeremiah. So chapter five, Lamentations.
verses 19 to 22. Thou, O LORD, remainest forever,
thy throne from generation to generation. Wherefore dost thou
forget us forever, and forsake us so long time? Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD,
and we shall be turned. renew our days as of old, but
thou hast utterly rejected us, thou art very wroth against us. The prophet Jeremiah lived at
the time when Jerusalem was overthrown by Nebuchadnezzar, and that the
people were taken captive. Most of them went down to Babylon,
many many miles away from Jerusalem. And Jeremiah was left really
with the captives, and he saw the utter and terrible desolation
of Jerusalem. wonderful and beautiful temple
that had been built so painstakingly and so wonderfully destroyed
and flattened. The walls of that great city
broken down and flattened and therefore Jeremiah saw the desolation
and of course also he realized the terrible condition that the
people were spiritually how they had rebelled against God, how
they departed from his ways, departed from the wonderful position
that they had been in with the glorious times of worship they'd
had. And now they were no longer in
that place, no longer able to worship many miles away in Babylon. And so really in this fifth chapter
we have a prayer of Jeremiah and he asks the Lord to remember,
remember O Lord what has come upon us, consider and behold
our reproach. He outlines in the following
verses something of the desolation which exists You know, as you
and I perhaps think about that in the day and age in which we
live, surely we're not far removed from these situations. You can look back in our nation's
history, perhaps in a more particular way, perhaps a more relevant
way, to days of wonderful blessing and days of wonderful prosperity. And now we see really for the
most part, spiritual desolation. Or we see sometimes efforts to
worship, but those efforts are really not in accordance with
the word of God. And they have many worldly scenes
to occupy the mind rather than the blessing of God for the soul. And so we live today really in
a desolate time. and especially as the Lord has
seen fit, to bring into our country and indeed throughout the world
this COVID virus and what desolations that has really brought, what
it has changed the world. And the reality is we should
not think that things will return to a normal state. It's very
unlikely they will. You look in history, we will
find that things never return to what they were. Israel never
returned to what they were, although they were privileged to come
back and to rebuild the temple, it was never the same. And the
Lord's blessing did never rest upon it, never rest upon the
people, never rested upon Judah and Jerusalem as it had done
years ago. And there are many other evidences
of times when the people of God have departed from the Lord and
followed that which seems right unto a man. So often you see
these things are true. The scripture tells us there
is that scene, that situation, which seems right to a man, but
in the end they're off for the ways of death. And there is a
need to be careful today that we don't just follow a way that
might seem right to our logical mind, to our natural understanding. Well, we have the solemn example
of Israel. There were many, many prophets
raised up to preach to particularly Judah, and they ignored the word
of the Lord. And the prophets told them what
would occur. They would be captivity. It would last for 70 years. And of course, they thought they
were idle tales, but they were not. And it solemnly came to
pass. Well, God in his goodness and
mercy has granted to us today a record of these things, a record
of these truths, so that we all may be able to ponder our paths
and not to be taken in and follow a false way. And so we're thankful
indeed for the Word of God and we might say especially for the
Lamentations. And as we mentioned before on
some occasions, the early chapter, the first chapter in Lamentations,
we see how Jeremiah tells us about his position and his situation,
his spiritual life and indeed how difficult it was and how
barren he found it to be. And it goes through until the
third chapter when he speaks about it in particular way and
he says, I am the man that has seen affliction by the rod of
his wrath he has led me and brought me to darkness but not into light. You sometimes think of course
the Lord only leads in a good way. Well it was a good way but
it wasn't the way that was naturally pleasant and naturally pleasing
because he was brought into this time of affliction and into a
time of darkness and into a time when his prayers appeared to
not enter in, appeared to come back at him until the Lord looked
down upon him we're thankful that we can read further in that
third chapter, 22nd verse, it is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed because his compassions fail not. Well how true that is and he
says they are new every morning great is thy faithfulness. We perhaps as Israel were, perhaps
are unfaithful. But God is not unfaithful. God is faithful. God remains the same mighty God. And therefore, as we come down
to these verses that we read this morning, verse 19, Jeremiah
is able to say, Thou, O Lord, remainest forever, thy throne
from generation to generation. God does not change. His laws do not change. He is the same yesterday and
today and forever. Though Israel were in this terribly
sad condition, yet here was Jeremiah able to write and record these
great truths for an encouragement to God's ancient people, and
surely they are an encouragement to us today when they prove to
be a wonderful strength to us. Thou, O Lord, remainest forever. That's a great truth, isn't it? To think that we have a God who
is eternal. It is very hard for us to think
about such a position because we are in time and we regulate
ourselves by time and our minds think about time, hours, minutes,
days, months, years, that is what regulates our life and yet
you see we have a God who remains forever. There's no time with
God. He is an eternal being. And this is the God that you
and I have to deal with. We do not deal, we do not have
to deal with a God that passes away. We do not deal with a God
who forgets. We do not deal with a God who
changes. We deal with a God who is always
the same, unchangeable. Now that's a great blessing,
my friends, it's also a solemn reality. And I say that because
the Lord has blessed us with his word, and his word tells
us all that you and I need for our natural lives and our spiritual
life. So as we have gathered to worship
today, may we have this understanding that we have this great Lord
who remains forever. And as the word goes on, Thy
throne from generation to generation, that tells us that He is the
King of kings and the Lord of lords. He sits on the throne
in glory and no one can dislodge him no one can turn him out he
is the almighty God and his throne again is forever and ever and
it's explained in this way to help us understand from generation
to generation you and I live in a generation our parents were a generation
our grandparents were a generation our children are a generation.
Our grandchildren are a generation. And this is the great God whose
throne rules and reigns from generation to generation. How sad it is in a day and age
in which we live. People do not acknowledge that
this God is the ruler of the universe. He reigns on high. He looks down upon the inhabitants
of the earth. He knows everything that is occurring
in everyone's life, in everyone's mind. It is truly a position
that is past our natural understanding to realize we come before, we
stand before, we walk before, we sit before, we lie down before
this great almighty God. What a blessing it is if the
Holy Spirit directs us to recognize that we do have to deal with
this God whose throne is from generation to generation. Well having made this wonderful
statement and it is good for us to recollect and to consider
the greatness of our God because hopefully it puts things in a
right perspective It puts our little lives in a right perspective
and it puts God in a right perspective. So he's not a mere person like
you and I are. He's not someone that comes and
goes. He remains forever. Well, Jeremiah then goes on to
make this comment. Wherefore dost thou forget us
forever and forsake us? so long time? That's perhaps
what it appears sometimes to us. It sometimes seems that perhaps
God has forgotten us. We may think that because God
does not seem to answer our prayers. It doesn't mean to say that God
has not heard our prayers. What it means is that God hasn't
seen fit to answer our prayers, perhaps in the way that we want,
perhaps in the way that we expect. But nonetheless, God is the same
and he hasn't forgotten us, although it may appear so. We read some
wonderful words. He waits to be gracious. You see, God doesn't appear at
our beck and call. He will be inquired of by the
House of Israel to do these things for them. He will be prayed unto
in a time when he may be found. The Lord has a time, a set time
to favour Zion, a time, a set time to bless his people, a time,
a set time to encourage his people. And so we have this question
put to us. It's the same really as we read
in the Psalms and in Psalm 13 and the first verse in that short
Psalm. Again, the Psalm is asked the
same question. And what does he say? How long
will thou forget me, O Lord? Forever? How long will thou hide
thy face from me? You see here, He speaks it in
the singular, in a very personal position, in a very personal
way. And truly, religion is a personal
thing. We should not think it is not. And what a wonderful thing, therefore,
if we do come to God in a personal way, like this perhaps, and ask
God this question, it may appear to be so, how long will thou
forget me, O Lord? Forever? How long will thou hide thy face
from me? The Lord, you see, brings us to these situations, and they're
not easy situations. Indeed, they're difficult times. They're very hard times. And
we need the Lord to turn and be gracious to us in such situations,
because the Lord perhaps appears to leave us. The Lord knows where
we are, he knows what we're thinking, he knows what we're doing, but
it appears that he's hiding his face, it appears that he's turned
against us. Wherefore does they forget us
forever and forsake us so long? You know we read that 102nd psalm,
it's a very beautiful psalm, very instructive to the Church
of God, but as we come down towards the end of that 102nd Psalm,
verse 26, this is what we read. They shall perish, but thou shalt
endure. Yes, the Lord endures forever.
All of them shall wax old like a garment, and as a vesture shalt
thou change them, and they shall be changed, but thou art the
same. and thy years shall have no end. Our God is the same. May it appear to us he's forgotten
us. May it appear to us he's forsaken
us. No, he's waiting. The time of blessing will come
if we are amongst those who have truly come to him humbly and
in prayer. What a mercy it is So the Lord
knows what we need. Sometimes we need the chastening
hand of God to bring us into line. Perhaps we've moved out
of line. Perhaps we're doing things in
accordance with God's will. Perhaps we're walking contrary
to the will of God. That's just what Israel did.
And the Lord spoke to them many times, they didn't want to hear,
they didn't hear. And they turned their back upon
God. Well, in an earlier chapter of
Jeremiah in his actual prophecy, in the 31st chapter, and that's
a well-known chapter, it's a very wonderful chapter. But in that
chapter, he speaks, this is Jeremiah speaking. And this is what is
spoken, he says, the 31st chapter verses 18 and 19. I have surely
heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus. Thou hast chastised me
and I was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. It's a good picture isn't it?
We don't see bullocks much in our country now today being put
into a yoke. They still are used in the middle
and far east often to plough the ground and to work the ground,
and they're sometimes yoked together, and they're yoked together with
a yoke. They don't like it. They kick
and they struggle. Well, as Jeremiah says here,
thou hast chastened me and I was chastened as a bullock unaccustomed
to the yoke. We don't like God to control
us. We don't like God to set the right way before us if it
doesn't agree with our way. We want to go in our way. We
don't want to have this yoke. We don't want to have this constraint
that God puts upon us. And yet you say, there it was. And it was so in the case of
Jeremiah speaking about Ephraim. But then you see there is this
request. And really it's the same request
which we have in the 21st verse of this little statement in Lamentations. Because in the 21st verse, Jeremiah
prays like this, Turn thou us unto thee. He prays that we may
be turned unto him. He doesn't say turn unto us,
Lord, It's turn us unto thee. That means made willing in the
day of God's power to do His will, not our will, to seek unto
Him. And that really is a very similar
statement to that which Jeremiah refers to in this 31st chapter
when he says, turn now me and I shall be turned. for thou art
the Lord my God. Yes, what a blessing that is
to pray that God will turn us if we are walking contrary to
our God. We're going in the opposite direction,
not the right way, but the wrong way. Now in this 31st chapter, we
read a very wonderful outcome really, because this is what
Jeremiah is able to tell us. Surely after the eye was turned,
God heard his prayer. May perhaps God hear our prayers?
We may not be very willing to have God turn us. We want to
stick to our own plans, our own ideas. But you see, are they
in accordance with the will of Almighty God? Surely after that
I was turned, I repented. The great blessing to be given
repentance. What that means is we come before
God and we're sorry for our sins. Perhaps we're sorry for our stubborn
heart. Perhaps we're sorry for our rebellious
spirit. And so he comes and tells us
Shortly after that I was turned, I repented. And after that I
was instructed, I smote upon my thigh. I was ashamed, I even
confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. Well, when we're young, we can
easily get our own ideas, and we can easily be very fixed on
our own ideas. we can find when we get older,
they're not actually good ideas. We thought they were, we have
to prove they're not. And so coming back to this statement
in the Lamentations, turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we
shall be turned. Renew our days as of old. When I was meditating on this
I was thinking about the difficulty it is because the devil is always
so anxious to get us onto his ground to get us with him and
he uses all types of ways and all types of means to try and
turn us away from the way of God to his way and you know if
you and I analyze it carefully We will find that the devil's
ways are never good. They are the ways that appeal
to the flesh, but are they in accordance with the Spirit of
God? Now, we're thankful that the
Lord gives us, in these times of trial, in these times of temptation,
in these times of difficulties, As the Apostle Paul tells the
Ephesians, he gives them the whole armour of God. Do you know, there's a number
of illustrations in the Ephesians telling us about this armour
of God and the various parts of it, but the great word is
this, to put on the whole armour of God. not to just pick up a
piece of the armor and think, well, I think I could do with
that. And I think I need that bit of
armor, but that'll do. I don't really need the rest
of it. Well, the apostle tells us that
we do need the whole armor of God. And he gives us a reason,
very instructive, I know we meditated on this some while ago. I know
James took it in a Bible study and it's a very wonderful statement
really for us to ponder on and to think often on. And we read
in this sixth chapter of the Ephesians how this is. And he tells us to put on the
whole armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil. The devil has not changed. He
is very cunning. And as I sometimes refer you
to the Garden of Eden, the question put to Eve by the serpent, the
devil, that question hath God said. The intention was to sow
doubt in Eve's mind. And of course, he was successful. and Eve solemnly listened to
his temptation. Well, what a blessing it is therefore
today that we have this warning and we're to stand against the
wiles of the devil. And so the apostle goes on to
explain this a little. For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places. He expands, really, the way that
the devil attacks. And so he says, wherefore, because
of all that, wherefore, he reiterates it, wherefore, take unto you
the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in
the evil day and having done all to stand, that means that
you and I are not to lean to our own understanding, because
the devil will come and he will produce many arguments to enable
us to hear his voice and to think how plausible it is and how good
it is, but you see, will it bring us into that same condition as
Eve did. Well again then he gives us,
then explains what this whole armour is. He tells us to stand
therefore, and again I think it's wonderful to think that
the instruction here is to stand, to stand. What a blessing therefore
if the Lord comes unto us, turn thou us unto thee. The Lord comes
and turns us to view this great blessing the Lord gives us of
the whole armour of God, and to stand, to be alert, to not
succumb to a sleepy spirit, but to stand, therefore, having your
loins girt about with truth. The devil hates the truth. The
devil always tries to turn the Word of God, from truth to lies. The devil was always, and always
is, and always will be, a liar. And therefore let us have this,
our loin skirt about us, our middle, and having on the breastplate
of righteousness, seeking those things which are
pure and good and perfect, and not going any other way breastplate
of righteousness and our feet shone with a preparation of the
gospel of peace. The way that we walk, the path
that we walk, our feet, in a good way, a peaceable way, that's
the path where you and I are to walk in and you shall be and
above all then he comes and says taking the shield of faith. That means that you and I have
to believe in God, believe what he has said, believe his glorious
truth and trust in him. You see, in the day and age in
which we live, worship has degenerated. You find that in so many places
now, worship degenerates to just one service on the Lord's Day.
And then when that's done, well, people go and do what they want
to do and they treat it just as another day. It's a great
danger, isn't it? It's a great danger. And how
we need to be delivered from such a situation as that. The shield of faith to believe
the great truth of God. The Lord's given us his word
to direct us in all that we should do and say, and how we should
act, and how we should worship, and how we should follow his
great and glorious example. You know, we have that wonderful
example, don't we, of the Lord Jesus Christ, and often think
of that statement, he pleased not himself. No, he didn't please
himself. He could have chosen a much easier
way, but no, he did the will of his Father. How willing was
Jesus to die that we fellow sinners might live. Oh, what a Saviour,
my friends, we have. What a glorious example. Let
us always be concerned to follow His example. And you see, this
shield of faith is able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. The devil has many darts which
he throws at us. But you see, faith in the Lord
can quench all those fiery darts. Sometimes these darts are very
painful, painful to bear. But you see, as you and I found,
looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith,
that's when these fiery darts will be quenched. So he tells us, wherefore, take
unto you the whole armour of God. What a blessing that is.
Well, the mercy and favour is. And take, then he says, the helmet
of salvation. The helmet of salvation. I have thought about this, you
know, the helmet, of course, really encompasses the head,
We can think of the days in when Paul wrote this, and the soldier
in those days really had a helmet which did really encompass their
whole head. And let us think about this,
the helmet of salvation. If the salvation of God, the
glorious plan of salvation, encompasses our minds, What a wonderful scene
that is, because it directs us to the great and wonderful work
of the Savior, that work of salvation. You see, if that is upon our
spirit, how this is a helmet which encompasses our mind, and
is a part of this great armor of God that's given us, we don't
possess this helmet of salvation. What exists? Well, our mind exists
to ponder all kinds of things, but the helmet of salvation directs
us really solely to the great and glorious work of the Saviour. And my friends, this is that
which strengthens us. This is that which feeds our
soul. Oh, what a blessing then. to
meditate upon the Saviour, our meditation of Him shall be sweet. And it is true. What a blessing
then if our great desire then is to be clothed, to put on this
whole armour of God and including this helmet of salvation, which
indeed is a wonderful favour for us, because it directs us
to the sufferings of the Saviour directs us to Calvary. There
the light of the Gospel shines. My friends, we don't want to
be far away from Calvary. We don't want to be tempted to
leave Calvary. We don't want to be found not
putting on this whole helmet of salvation. We want to enjoy
the wonderful privilege which is ours, as the apostle says,
to put on the whole armour of God. Every part of it is necessary. Every part of it. And so he then
comes and says, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word
of God. Don't turn away from the word
of God. Don't turn away from the Bible. Ever pray to God. that he will make his word a
blessing to our souls. Ever pray to God, as we read
the Bible, we may be directed to the Lord Jesus Christ. We
may see a wonderful glory and a wonderful beauty in the pages
of scripture, right from Genesis to Revelation, as Christ is revealed. This is that which feeds our
souls. Oh, my friends, look nowhere
else. Look nowhere else. Look to Calvary,
the wonderful, wonderful blessing of the Gospel. And so the Apostle
says, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the
Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication
for all saints. The path of the Christian is
one. of perseverance. It's never easy. The devil is
always at our heels. The devil is always pestering
us, day and night. We have a great adversary who
never gives up. But let us remember, we have
a conqueror, a great and glorious Saviour, who has conquered the
devil. The devil did not succeed when
he thought the Saviour had died upon Calvary's cross. He finished
his father's work, but he rose again. He shed his precious blood
to atone for our sins. Oh, what a wonderful picture
it is for us today. Well, may the Lord graciously
come and hear such a prayer as this. Turn now us unto thee. It means turning us to nowhere
else. Nowhere else. than to the Saviour. Nowhere else. To his life and
death and resurrection, intercession and ascension. Oh my friends,
it's a glorious gospel, because he then tells us, Turn us unto
thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned. Renew our days as of
old. Well, perhaps We need those days
to be renewed. Perhaps we wandered away. Perhaps
we were tempted by the devil. Perhaps we listened to his voice
and followed his cunningly devised scheme. But let us be found men,
not following that, but may perhaps, if we have gone and found ourselves
in what I might say is a far-off condition. The Lord can bring
us back. The Lord is compassionate. The
Lord is full of mercy. He did that to Israel on countless
occasions. We have such words for our encouragement
today. And so may such a prayer as this
truly be our prayer and may we acknowledge the goodness of God
and pray this prayer turn now us unto thee oh lord turn us
to thyself turn us to view thy way turn us to consider thy way
turn us to meditate upon thy great work renew our days as
of old what a blessing you know the apostle when he wrote to
the Corinthians he said judge therefore judge nothing before
the time until the Lord come who both will bring to light
the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels
of the hearts and then shall every man have praise of God
see the Lord will bring to light the counsels of our hearts Sometimes
our heart doesn't have good counsel. Sometimes we need that counsel
to be put right. As we know, the heart is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. And the question is,
who can know it? Left to ourselves, we don't appreciate
how evil it is. But you see, as the Lord comes,
and turns thou us unto thee, turns us unto himself. Then we
see his way, then we see his light, then we see the blessing
in doing his will. And remember, the way I take
cannot be wrong if Jesus be but there. What a good test that
is, isn't it? What a good test. good test for
everything in our lives isn't it? And so the prophet just mentions
this last statement which is a difficult statement to bring
into these words but nonetheless it's the word of God and he says
but thou hast utterly rejected us well may we not be amongst
those as Israel were who had utterly rejected God, and because
of that the Lord was very wroth against them. And we know the
agonizing position they found themselves in for 70 years in
that alien place of Babylon, or what hard lessons it was for
them to learn. But yet the Lord was merciful,
well may we not be left to ourselves. May we be blessed with that true
favour of God, and remember we stand before the great God, the
Ruler of the Universe, and may He come and bless our souls and
turn us to Him, turn us to view the Saviour, no one else, no
way else would do us any good. And remember, you and I have
an eternal soul. We may be concerned about time.
That's all right. But we should be more concerned
about eternity. Oh, my friends, you and I have
to face a gracious God. May it not be an angry God. Thou, O Lord, Remain us forever,
thy throne from generation to generation. Wherefore dost thou
forget us forever, and for so long turn us unto thee, O Lord,
we shall be turned. Renew our days as of old, for
thou hast utterly rejected us. Thou very wrath against us. Amen.