May the Lord be pleased to bless
us together this evening as we consider his word. Let us turn
to the Lamentations of Jeremiah, and chapter 4, and we'll read
verses 1 and 2. The Lamentations of Jeremiah,
chapter 4, and reading verse 1 and 2. How is the gold become
dim? How is the most fine gold changed? The stones of the sanctuary are
poured out in the top of every street. The precious sons of
Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen
pitchers, the work, the hands of the potter. The Word of God sets before us
again and again the position that the Church of God lived
in many years ago, and the analogy which it has with the spiritual
life of the children of God down through the ages. Jeremiah lived
in a difficult time, a sad time really, in the history of Israel. He was a prophet of the Lord.
He was called to prophesy against Israel, to tell them what would
occur unless they turned unto the Lord and listened to his
word and kept his commandments. And we know that for the most
part those words fell on deaf ears. They were content to carry
on in their sinful way. They turned their back upon their
gracious and kind and good God who had so gloriously delivered
them out of Egypt and watched over them and provided for them.
And now they were at enmity with God. And the Lord had prophesied
through his prophets that they would go into captivity. And what the Lord says, of course,
comes to pass. And it reminds us that we should
never think that we can trifle with Almighty God. The tendency
is for us to assume that God is really very similar to ourselves.
We must always remember that we have a God who is the Almighty
God. And it's very good when we have
high views of God, let us never have little views of God, he
is great, he is high, he is lifted up, and he controls all things. Well, Israel ignored the words
of the prophet and therefore it came to pass, as had been
prophesied, and they were carried away into captivity. Carried away into captivity,
and there they were to spend 70 years in exile. And those 70 years, if you consider
our lives, 70 years is a big lump out of our life, perhaps
it's all of our life. And to think that they were without
a real place to worship, without being able to fulfill those sacrifices,
and they had to live in that barren state, all because they
had turned their back upon Almighty God. Well, Jeremiah, and live
to see that situation and to realise what came to pass and
therefore he's able to write the Lamentations, a very appropriate
word I'm sure. There are of course as we know
some very blessed words in the book of the Lamentations, especially
in chapter 3, very encouraging. But nonetheless we do have the
picture which existed and the Prophet is here directing our
attention to really what has become of the temple. It was a very glorious building,
and the Lord had been there. And now we recognise that the
God Spirit had left the temple, and therefore the Chaldeans had
come, and not only broken down the walls of Jerusalem, but had
also demolished the temple. And that's why we read here,
the gold had become dim, And the most fine gold changed and
the stones of the sanctuary were poured out in the top of every
street. All those stones which were used
to decorate the temple were taken out and thrown away, thrown on
the, round the streets. And the gold, which had been
so beautiful and so gloriously carved, was now become dim and
had changed. Well, that was the situation. And he goes on to say, the precious
sons of Zion, the priests, the Levites, comparable to fine gold,
how they are esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands
of the potter, not the work of the hand of God, the work of
the hand of the potter, and just earthen pitchers, they weren't
golden things, they were just like earthen pitchers, how there
was a dramatic change in the situation and what had occurred. God's word was being fulfilled,
had been fulfilled. Well, that's the picture that
we have here of the state which existed at the time that Jeremiah
wrote these words. But of course, it has a much
deeper impact. And it has an impact to the Church
of God. And it has an impact for us today
to realise how these things apply to us. We can think of it really
as the Church of God and the individuals in the Church of
God. And when we consider that, to
think how things have become really, for the most part, a
desolation, especially in our country, and I think in many,
many parts of the world really. I know there are pockets here
and there of God's gracious blessing, but for the most part, there's
not very much true worship. There's a lot of hot air, a lot
of false religion, and yet this is true. As the prophet tells
us, the gold become dim. The most fine gold changed. The
stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the top of every street,
the precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how they are esteemed
as earthen pitches, the work of the hands of the potter."
Now, if we try and consider what this might mean, we read in the
Song of Solomon an expression that the Bride of Christ speaks
of in the fifth chapter with regards to fine gold. And in the fifth chapter, you
may remember that she is describing what the heavenly bridegroom
meant to her. Because she was asked the question,
what is thy beloved more than another beloved? O thou fairest
among women, What is thy beloved more than another beloved that
thou dost so charge us? And then she gives a description
in the remaining verses of this fifth chapter on the Son of Solomon. But the eleventh verse tells
us this, His head is the most fine gold. His head is the most
fine gold. does that really indicate to
us? Surely it shows that there was purity. Purity. And so it is with regard to our
Saviour. His mind, His actions were pure. All His motives were good. There
was no sin. There was no evil there at all.
His head is as the most fine gold. And then we Read this picture
here of the most fine gold changed, and the precious sons of Zion
comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen
pictures, the work of the hands of the potter. Surely this shows
to us there is a falling away, there is a turning away from
that which is good and pure, and that which is essentially
referenced to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Church of God move
away from the central theme of the Gospel, and the central theme
of the Gospel is a crucified Christ. It's not a Christ that
some of the world think of today, marvellous, wonderful looking
person. The Saviour's visage was more
marred than any man. The Saviour was a crucified man. The Saviour suffered, suffered
so greatly and therefore his people are to bear that image. And that image is to be made
like unto the Lord Jesus Christ, not necessarily in a physical
disfigurement, but nonetheless to turn away from the vanities
and the materialism of this world, because the effect of the things
of this world are to dim the gold, so that it does not shine
forth, it becomes dim, the fine gold. The things concerning The
Saviour. Do not shine forth. They're dim. What has happened? The Church
of God, the people of God, have turned away from the Lord God. They've turned away to follow
other things. Turned away to follow the things
in this world. The worldly things, which people
today and make excuses of, and consider they can follow them.
The Word of God tells us, we cannot serve two masters. We
cannot serve God and mammon. And yet, the devil would have
us do so. He would pretend to us. We can
have plenty of the world, and there's still plenty of room
for the things of God. The truth is, the things of God
are pushed aside. And what happens, this is what
happens, the gold becomes dim. And the precious sons of Zion,
comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen
pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter. What has happened? The great and glorious work of
God is not set forth. And men are looking and relying
upon the work of men's hands, which is the work of the hands
of the potter. And what a sad situation it is. And as we look around, surely
we can observe that. Perhaps we look in our own heart,
we can realise perhaps things are not as they should be. Perhaps
not as we would have them. And we may perhaps ask ourselves
the question, why is this? I hope we do. It's good sometimes
if we do ask ourselves these questions. We're not what we
would be and we wonder why. We can't seem to grasp the blessing. We can't seem to enjoy the nearness
to the Saviour. Well, the Prophet Jeremiah, when
he wrote his prophecy, he tells us, the word in the seventh chapter,
the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, stand in
the gate of the Lord's house and proclaim there this word
and say, hear the word of the Lord. All ye of Judah that enter
in these gates to worship the Lord, thus says the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel, amend your ways and your doings and I will
cause you to dwell in this place. Trust ye not in lying words,
saying, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple
of the Lord are these." You see the prophet, he repeats these
words three times. It's very easy to just come and
find ourselves speaking familiar phrases. For if you truly amend
your ways and your doings, If you throughly execute judgment
between a man and his neighbor, if you oppose not the stranger,
the fatherless and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in
this place, neither walk after other gods in your hope, then
will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that
I gave to your fathers forever and ever." Well, this was the
solemn statement that the Lord commanded Jeremiah to speak. to Israel of old. Now remember,
Israel of old were the Lord's people. They were blessed, but
they'd forsaken the Lord God. They turned away from the things
of God and they were following their own way, their own situation. And then again, in the 10th chapter,
the prophet tells us, hear ye the word of the Lord Hear the
word of the Lord, which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of
Israel. Thus saith the Lord, learn not
the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of
heaven, for the heathen are dismayed at them." It's very easy for
us in a day and age in which we live to be turned aside to
the ways of the heathen. And by the heathen, We mean those
that do not fear God, those who follow after the things of the
world. And so this word is very tangible
and very necessary. And it speaks to all of us today
as it was necessary in those days. These simple words, learn
not the way of the heathen. And yet you see the way of the
heathen is set before us all day, really, And it's very easy
for us to learn the way of the heathen. Is that learning the
way of God? Is it walking in accordance with
the Word of God? Is it following His way? That way which is despised? That way which is spoken against
by the world? Are we a true disciple? Do we
count all things but dung and dross? for the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord, as the Apostle said,
for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and to count
them but done, that I may win Christ and be found in him, not
having on my own righteousness, which is of the law. Well, what
a blessing if the Lord gives us that spirit that the Apostle
Paul had. No doubt the Apostle was tempted
in his life He had a difficult life and no doubt there were
times when he could easily have turned away to what may have
appeared to be an easier path. But no, the Lord had called him
and he was willing to suffer for the Lord's sake. Now, Israel
were not prepared to hear the word of the Lord. They were not
prepared to follow the commands, the gracious, the loving commands
of Almighty God. And how easy it is today, in
the age in which we live, to listen to the insinuations of
the devil and to turn us away into the broad way. One of the
most clever works of the devil is to speak in our ear and to
tell us, well of course there's no harm in that. You and I need
to examine those things carefully. And when he says there's no harm
in it, what does he mean? Well, he hopes we will look at
it in a broad way and think, well, it's not too bad and I
can probably get away with doing that. But really the test of
such a question is this. Does it bring us nearer to Christ? Or does it take us farther away
from Christ? That's a great question, isn't
it? In everything that you and I do in our lives today, the
things perhaps which we allow ourselves to do, do they bring
us nearer to Christ or do they take us farther away? And if
so, is it like this? The gold, the pure things of
God, the gracious, blessed things of God have become dim. They don't shine as they should. We find we're not walking closely
to our God, there's not quite that attraction. We can think,
can't we, you know, gold shines very beautifully, it's very attractive,
but if it's tarnished and is it covered with dirt, it's not
so attractive, is it? It doesn't mean to say that you
and I have lost that gracious blessing that Lord has given
us. But my friends, we've allowed the devil to make an inroad into
our lives. So there's a downgrading. You know, one of the evidences,
the clear evidences, the true evidences of the living Church
of God is to follow that example in the Word of God. And those
that fear the Lord speak often one to another. and a book of
remembrance was written. What did it mean? It meant they
had something to speak about, and something to write down of
God's blessings. It's so important, is it not,
to remember what God has done, and to bless His name for it? You know, there's no medals for
silence, There's no honouring God and
keeping back those things which God has done. The Word of God
tells us, those that honour me I will honour, and those that
despise me shall be lightly esteemed. Well, I'm sure if we are questioned
closely, we don't want really to be lightly esteemed, do we?
We want to be esteemed by our God. We want to be esteemed by
our God because of his great grace toward us. Because of that
great grace which we receive, which shines forth and brings
forth honor and glory to our God. The word of God tells us,
is it not, in Isaiah, ye are my witnesses. The church of God
are God's witnesses. And what a sad thing this is.
if we are not a witness for God. But if we are, these that are
the fine gold which has become dim, and we become like earthen
pictures, just the work of men's hands, no evidence of God's work. It's God's work, is it not, which
receives the honour and glory. And therefore to realise that
this fine gold speaks of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, do we speak well of Him?
Is it our prayer to speak well of Him? Is He not worthy of all
honour and praise? Has He saved our souls? Has He delivered us from the
wrath to come? Has He picked us up out of the
terrible pit, the horrible pit and the Maori clay? Has he placed
our feet upon a rock? Is it all this great and glorious
work to show forth his praise? And now we're turned aside and
now we're listening to the advice of our great adversary, the devil. We spoke this morning of as he
goes about as a roaring lion, Let's speak tonight as he goes
about as an angel of light, pretending things are okay, coming alongside
us, not roaring, but just gently turning us away from the things
of God, gradually eliminating the time perhaps we spend with
God, producing many reasons why we're so busy In a day and age
in which we live that we can just give a little less time
to God, a little more time to the old devil. You see how subtle
is the devil. And what happens then? The gold
becomes dim. Christ is not so attractive.
We don't think about him so much. We turn aside and we find ourselves
enveloped in the things of time, the things which perish with
the using. Well, Jeremiah, under the influence
of the Spirit of God, was able to point Israel to the situation
which had developed in their lives. And as we know, it wasn't
easy for Israel then to recover from the position they were in. It's easy to backslide. It's
not so easy to recover. In fact, it's very difficult
to recover. Backsliding means to slide down
backwards, down a slippery slope. It's very easy. It's very difficult
then to come back. Well, we should thank God that
we have a word like this in these lamentations to make us aware
of our condition, or to make us concerned that we do not fall
into such a condition, but that there may be our constant desire
in our life today that Christ may be first. I suppose in our
country we live in a fairly easy state, don't we? There's not
much opposition. There's not much persecution,
and maybe there will be, perhaps not to the extent that our religion
is put on the line, and therefore we're able to just carry on in
a fairly calm and easy way. And we find that there's not
much evidence of God's work in our soul. No, there's not. I've told you before, and it's
worth just reminding you, a few years ago when I was in the West
Indies over Christmas, We were there on the Lord's Day and we
had lunch together. We all sat down in a big circle
and the minister said, well, he said, we're towards the end
of this year. We're three hundred and so many
days through this year. And it would be a good thing
if we take it in turn to tell each, tell us all what God has
done for us during this year so far. Well, it was a good exercise,
wasn't it? And it was interesting what people
got up and said. They spoke of what God had done
for them. God had done for them in the
things of providence and in the things of grace. It's a good
thing to do, isn't it? And I've heard sometimes there
are those churches that meet every week and the church gather
together and they rehearse what God has done for their souls. Now then, that's a good exercise,
isn't it? You know, you think if you were
to go home today and then You know that next Lord's Day you're
going to have to give an account of what God has done for you
in the week. Well, you'd be on the stretch, wouldn't you? You'd
be desirous to have something to honour God with. You wouldn't
want to come week after week and say, well, nothing, well,
nothing. Perhaps there's not very much
concern that there's nothing to say. And yet how blessed it
is when we know the favour of being near to God, walking closely
to our God, where prayer is a privilege and prayer is a blessed favour,
that we rejoice to pray to God. It's the best thing we do in
the day. Well, is it the best thing we do in the day to pray
to God? Do we pray at that time when
we may put aside to pray to our God? And we have the evidence
that God is with us. How true those words, the effectual
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. We're not righteous, of course,
in our own strength, but we are righteous in that which God has
done for us. And so may we ever be concerned
that our spiritual life may be lively in the things of God,
and not just go along with the crowd and say, well of course
things aren't very good today, we don't see much of the work
of God, perhaps we don't pray for it very much. Perhaps we
don't pray that God's glorious person might be revealed to us
more and more, and that we may truly grow in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. They're words which
are familiar, they're words which are very often spoken, but do
they come from our heart? or are they just the work of
our hands, earthen pitchers, not bringing forth any honor
or any glory to Almighty God. Again, the Apostle Paul, when
he wrote to the Corinthians, points out very important and
relevant situations with regard to our own individual position. And he says, he speaks about
the work of men's hands. Every man's work shall be made
manifest. Everything you and I do will
be manifest as to whether it's for God's honor and glory or
whether it's for our own honor and glory. Every man's work shall
be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall
be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of
what sort it is. Now The blessing is that gold,
if it's put in the fire, all that is lost is dross and rubbish. And so if our works are put in
the fire, will there be anything left? Or will it all have disappeared? If any man's work abide which
he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's
work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall
be saved, yet so as by fire. And he tells us, know ye not
that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth
in you? To the church of God, to wonderful
favor, to very solemn consideration. If any man defile the temple
of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy,
which temple ye are. Let no man deceive himself. If
any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him
become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this
world is foolishness with God. We need to remember that. How
we strive after wisdom, natural wisdom. Foolishness with God,
for it is written, he taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
And again, the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they
are vain. Therefore, let no man glory in
men, for all things are yours. whether Paul, or Apollos, or
Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present,
or things to come, all are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ
is God's." Well, it's a great blessing to realize that we are
Christ's, but also it's a very solemn consideration, isn't it?
Because if Christ has bought us, and he's bought all his people,
he's paid the price that they might be receded into glory.
He's paid the price, the ransom required to pay for their sins. And that was such a price, he
gave his life. He gave his life willingly for
such unworthy sinners as you and me. Now, my friends, when
we're tempted, as we will be, follow the course of this earth,
to be tempted to turn away from the great truth of God, to remember
the price of our redemption. Christ Jesus didn't waste his
time on this earth, did he? He didn't spend his time on things
of no profit. He shone forth, did he not? this
fine gold of the Saviour. Oh, what fine gold it was, how
it shone, how the Church of God rejoiced in it, and how we today
should rejoice in it as we view in some measure the glory of
the Saviour, the glory of His great work, His finished work,
the work that He carried out to save our souls from hell,
we can never really understand the value of that redemptive
work to save our souls from eternal death in hell. The Lord Jesus
Christ suffered so greatly to give us that grace and blessing
and glorious gift of eternal life. And so therefore may it
be our real concern in our lives today that we are not that gold
that becomes dim, that we're not like those who are esteemed
as earthen pictures, the work of the hands of the potter. My
friends, we're the work of the hands of the heavenly potter,
that one who has formed us to show forth his praise. Isn't that a solemn statement,
isn't it? We're formed to show forth His
praise, not our praise. Like the Apostle said, rather
like John the Baptist said, he must increase, but I must decrease. He viewed himself in a right
light. He wanted Christ to be lifted
up. He is worthy. of all our praise
and all our adoration. He's worthy of all our life that
we found serving Him. He gave His life as that perfect
sacrifice for our sin. Should we not in measure sacrifice
our life for Him? What does that really mean? It
means we're not to be found pleasing ourselves. We are to be found
following the gracious and blessed example of our Lord and Saviour,
Jesus Christ, so that He may be lifted up and honoured and
glorified. We may realise that our life
on this earth is passing and it's very short. At the longest
it's very short. Are we today serving the Lord
or are we serving ourselves? How has the gold become dim and the most fine gold changed? Have we, as it were, changed
our view of the Savior? Have we become cold? Have we
become lukewarm? Just like the Laodicean church. They were lukewarm. Is that descriptive
of you and me today? Lukewarm in the things of God?
Sometimes it's good that we're able to come aside and, you know,
David came and he sat before the Lord It's good, perhaps,
if you and I come and we sit before the Lord, no one else
about, and we ask the Lord to show us where we are, what we're
doing, what we're saying, what we're thinking. Are we doing
those things that are right for His honour and glory? Or are
we, or have we, wandered away? Got ourselves into the broad
way, left the narrow way, thought it was easier, thought we could
go that way. Well, bless God, if he brings
us back into the narrow way, there's no more favoured position
than to have union with Christ, to walk hand in hand with the
Saviour, We may view it and think of it as an attractive proposition,
but my friends, truly is, as you and I walk with Christ, we
walk with him in his sufferings. Because it's only in that place
that we really then know what it is to have union with Christ. The Apostle Paul knew what it
was, he desired it, didn't he? He might have fellowship with
his sufferings. Because what it shows to us,
something of what the Saviour died at cost, something of the
cost it was of our salvation, when the Saviour died upon that
cross at Calvary. Well, he said the more we value
Christ, the less we shall value the things of this materialistic
world. We should be willing to let things
go. And what a blessing it is, and
it's a very high position, and it's something to be aimed for.
The hymn writer said, I could from all things parted be, but
never, never, Lord, from Thee. Well, that was a very true and
wonderful statement. What a blessing if you and I
can come there. Because what it means is, Christ is in first. The gold is shining. It's shining
bright, union with Christ. The precious sons of Zion comparable
to fine gold. This being compared with Christ
means that there is unity, union with Christ. Because we possess
the mind of Christ. seeking after pure things, seeking
after holy things. It's a great blessing to be found
seeking after holy things. It's a great blessing to pray
we might live a holy life. As I said before, remember the
prayer of Robert Murray McShane, that man of God, and he prayed
that he may be live a life as holy as a pardoned sinner could
be. Designed to live a holy life,
not a worldly life. Not to live as near as the world
and yet enjoy God. No, he wanted to be taken up
for the things of God. Well, that man shone forth as
fine gold. He was greatly blessed in his
ministry to that church of Dundee and in many other places. And
God privileged him to walk closely with his God. He didn't esteem
the things of this world. He esteemed the riches of Christ. And so, for you and me today,
my friends, may we be concerned to be found esteeming greater
riches the things of Christ than the
things of this poor world. You know, we know that Moses
was given that grace to turn away from those riches in Pharaoh's
palace, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of
God than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season. Oh, my friends,
may you and I pray for that, that we might indeed be found
following such a gracious example. And let's not forget that the
devil is very active today in trying to turn us away from the
things of God, from true fellowship, so that we don't shine forth
as we have become dim. That's why the prophet was instructed
to write these words to tell Israel what had occurred. what
had occurred, and how sad it was. And yet it was true, my
friends, to a large extent today, in the church of God, how sad
it is that the gold has become dim. And the most fine gold changed. The stones of the sanctuary are
poured out in the top of every street. The precious sons of
Zion, comparable to fine gold, How are they esteemed as earthen
pictures? The work of the hands of the
potter." Well, my friends, may we not be esteemed like that,
but may we be esteemed as those who are truly bought with a price. Those who are a true follower
of the Saviour, those who desire to be found living closer to
Christ, and those who are looking forward to that day when through
His grace they will be found in glory forever with the Lord. You know our little life on this
earth is only a short time, isn't it? Let us not live in this world
as though this is our home. Let us live in this world demonstrating
this is not our rest, that we are indeed foreigners, we're
pilgrims, we're strangers on this earth, but we seek that
home which is above. that home where Christ dwells,
where all the church of God will be joined together around that
throne of God in heaven, singing his praises forevermore. And
amongst those who will be exalting his name and saying, worthy is
the lamb that was slain. Well, my friends, may that song
be ours as we travel on day by day through this world and be
able to say day by day, yes, By God's grace, I desire to say,
and I will say, worthy is the lamb that was slain for all he's
done for my unworthy soul and given me a good hope that there
will be eternal life and that my life might show forth his
praise and that there may be that gold shining forth to show
forth the savior. Amen.