May I please God to bless his
word to our souls this evening, as we consider the fourth verse
in the first chapter of the Lamentations of Jeremiah. The Lamentations
of Jeremiah, chapter 1, and we'll read verse 4. The ways of Zion do mourn. because none come to the solemn
feasts, all her gates are desolate, her priests sigh, her virgins
are afflicted, and she is in bitterness." This short book is well headed
really, as Lamentations and it was written by Jeremiah and we
may be familiar with them and also with the prophecy of Jeremiah
and as we may read the prophecy of Jeremiah and be reminded of
the many things that he spoke against Judah and Jerusalem and
yet how they were generally ignored, made little of And for being
honest and straightforward, he was in prison, he was put in
a dungeon, and he had a very difficult time. And yet, of course,
he lived to see the fulfilment of those things that he had prophesied. They did come to pass. And it
proved that he was a prophet of the Lord. And it was not just
his own imagination. It was a very solemn situation. especially as we think of Jerusalem
and the land of Judah. It was a very blessed location. It was a wonderful place. It
was where the Lord had ordained the temple should be built, a
place where people would flock to worship, a time of rejoicing,
a time of wonderful favour. And Jeremiah prophesied that
unless they turn from their idolatry in worshipping other gods, unless
they turn from disobeying the word and the commands of God,
he would bring judgment upon them. And they were warned that
which would occur, that they would go down into captivity. They would be there for 70 years. And we must assume that, for
the most part, they considered such truths to be as idle tales. They never thought it would really
come to pass. But, God is not a man that he
should lie. When the Lord says, it comes
to pass. His statements will not fail. Everything the Lord says, He
does. So it came to pass that Jerusalem
and Judah were taken captive. And not only were they taken
captive, But the walls of Jerusalem were broken down, the temple
was destroyed, the houses were burned. And what was that? There was desolation. That's really what the picture
we have in the beginning here of this chapter. He says, how
does the city sit? Solitary. That was full of people. How has she become as a widow?
She that was great among the nations, and princess among the
provinces, how is she become tributary, something insignificant. She weepeth sore in the night,
and her tears on her cheeks, and all her lovers she hath none
to comfort her, all her friends have dealt treacherously with
her, they are become her enemies. Judah is gone into captivity
because of affliction, because of sin, and because of great
servitude. She dwelleth among the heathen,
she findeth no rest, and all her persecutors overtook her
between the straits. It's a very clear picture, is
it not? of desolation which came upon Jerusalem in these days
of Jeremiah. And we might think, well of course,
that only applies to those times. Their history now and such situations
do not develop today. Well, in not the same way, but
in essence they do. And I suppose the picture is
very true of our nation today. Because we were a nation that
was wonderfully blessed. Wonderfully blessed, we might
say, with the candle of the Lord. It's gone brightly in our country. There were the days of the Reformation,
the days of the Puritans. The days when there were many
that flocked to hear the word of God. Think of those days of
George Whitfield, when thousands got up early in the morning,
six o'clock, to go to Clapham Common and to hear the preaching
of the Gospel, not only there but in other parts of the country. There was a time of wonderful
blessing, a time of wonderful outpouring of the Holy Spirit
of God. And now, to a large extent, what
do we observe? What do we see? If we are honest,
we have to admit that we are in a situation of desolation. We cannot really think that there
is prosperity. There may be pockets of blessing
here and there, but generally speaking, there is not that truth
following the word of God. Men follow their own devices. They follow entertainment. People
are not interested in serving the true God, in solemn feasts. No, they want
to please themselves. They don't want to please the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ means nothing
to most of them. He's just a name, just a word
on their lips. There isn't a true following
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so that was the picture. And then we come to this fourth
verse which describes it in a bit more detail. The ways of Zion
do mourn. The ways of course were the roads
really in Jerusalem. Those roads which would have
been full of rejoicing on those times of feasting. Feast of Tabernacle
and the Passover. There would have been times of
wonderful rejoicing. But now they mourn because there
was no rejoicing. There were no feasts because none come to the solemn
feasts. That which Jeremiah would have
remembered. People flocking up to Jerusalem from the surrounding
nations. coming up in companies and worshipping
at Jerusalem. Yes, a time of blessing and favour. And now, desolation. Solemn feasts. They were solemn
feasts. They were feasts which set before
them, in a very special way, the Lord Jesus Christ. Pentecost. The Feast of Tabernacles
and the Passover. And there they were, now destitute
of these occasions, those three occasions in the year. And now
they weren't there at all. The people weren't there, the
people had gone into captivity, no people to worship it, no people
to come up, no temple, no sacrifices. Oh, what a time there was then,
how sad it was. And so solemn feast, and all
her gates are desolate. The gates which were flocking
with people passing through them, as they came into the city, and
the watchmen watched over them, and now the gates were broken
down. It was a desolate scene. Her priests sigh, her virgins
are afflicted, and she is in bitterness. Now, if that was
true then with regards to Judah and Jerusalem as it was, we see
in measure today the same situation existing in our nation and indeed
in many nations of the world. Many situations today follow
this pattern and we see mourning amongst the true Church of God,
or there should be mourning amongst the true Church of God. And we
should indeed be sorry for the situation which exists. And Jeremiah asked the question,
is it nothing to you, all you that pass by? Who are those people
that pass by? And he asked them, is it nothing
to you? You see this desolation? Is it
nothing to you? Does it mean nothing? Well, to
most of them it meant nothing. But to the remnant, and it was
to the remnant, it caused them much distress. It caused them
much sadness. There was no early prospect of
any return. It was a dark and solemn day.
So it is in our nation today, if we are honest, it is a dark
and solemn day. And if people ask the question,
is it nothing to you, all you that pass by, what is the general
reaction? Is there really a true deep seated
concern? Is there a real sorrow for sin? Is there a real examination of
ourselves as individuals, as part of this guilty nation? It
is very significant that Jeremiah does not excuse himself. He illustrates
the sin of his own heart. We sometimes look around and
we look at the general situation. forget to examine ourselves.
Perhaps we ought to ask ourselves, are we the cause? Are we the
cause of desolation? The Word of God tells us, judgment
must begin with the house of God. Those who are, as it were,
hypocrites in Zion, those who pretend to be what they are not,
Those who do not really mourn for the state of Zion, they just
carry on in their own way, relatively satisfied with their condition
and their state. Do not recognise the true state
that they are in, the sins of which they continually carry
out, as it were. Jeremiah says, the Lord is righteous,
that is true, for I have rebelled against his commandment. I wonder
tonight if we acknowledge that to be true in our lives. to look very carefully into our
hearts and to see whether that's true. The Lord is righteous,
for I have rebelled against his commandment. Here I pray you,
all people, to behold my sorrow." Jeremiah was sorry for his sins. He was sorry for his rebellion. He didn't exclude himself. And
it shows, my friends, a very gracious if we don't exclude
ourselves. If we look within, and we mourn
what we find there, and we cry unto God Most High for the sins
of our own life, our own heart, which exist. We have this as
an evidence. We have this as an example. Jeremiah
said it forth, I have rebelled. I pray you all people, behold
my sorrow, my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.
I call for my lovers, but they deceive me. My priests and my
elders gave up the ghost in the city, while they sought their
meat to relieve their souls. It wasn't, you see, the true
sorrow. No, they were seeking for their
own ease. The priests, the elders, Gave
up the ghost in the city while they sought their meat to relieve
their souls. It's a sad picture, isn't it?
We see the selfishness of the people. We need to look today
to see whether we fall into that category ourselves. We can easily
be very self-centred. We can be very selfish about
ourselves. Well, the Prophet said, Behold,
O Lord, for I am in distress. My bowels are troubled, my heart
is turned within me, for I have grievously rebelled. Abroad the
sword bereaveth, at home there is as death. A grim picture, isn't it? We
have here of what Jeremiah expresses. Yes, he's troubled. His heart
is turned within him because he has grievously rebelled. We perhaps are amazed really
that Jeremiah should write such words. That we should even think
that Jeremiah, that gracious man of God, should recognise
God's condemnation upon him. And as he looked in his own heart,
he saw that He was verily guilty. It's needful today to realise
our true condition before a holy God. We do stand before a holy
God, all of us. How little we appreciate it.
So often we seem to ignore the fact that we stand before a holy,
righteous God. And how do we stand? Do we stand
as one who is guilty and condemned? One who is not righteous? One
who is unrighteous? Do we have to come and plead
for mercy and plead for forgiveness and recognize that what Jeremiah
sets before us here is true? I have grievously rebelled. It's a very strong statement,
isn't it? a very strong statement. I wonder whether we would be
willing to own up to a statement like that in our own lives, that
we have grievously rebelled. Well, I believe if we're honest,
if we're really honest and we really dig deep into our heart,
and we don't pretend to fool ourselves, we dig deep into our
heart, We will find that what Jeremiah was speaking of himself
is no less true of ourselves. Oh yes, for I have grievously
rebelled. They have heard that I sigh.
There is none to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of
my trouble. They are glad that thou hast done it. Thou wilt
bring the day that thou hast called, and they shall be like
unto me. So we have there in a few words
the testimony of God's prophet Jeremiah as he is truly repentant
of his condition. We sometimes think of course
that repentance is a condition that only exists upon conversion. But in fact, we need to repent
daily of our sins, daily confess our sins as we consider this
morning that Lord's Prayer, pleading for forgiveness, Lord forgive
our sins. That was the prayer that Lord
Jesus set before the disciples as a template And it's a template
for us today to realise the truth of these things. Well, it's coming
back to what Jeremiah speaks of here. He says, her priests
sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness. She is in bitterness. We may
perhaps go back in the word of God to Ruth. You may remember in that account
of Ruth, we understand about Naomi, the situation that she
was in. And we read in the first chapter,
we read in the 20th verse, where Naomi is responding to Ruth and
she says this, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty
hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the
Lord hath brought me home again empty. Why then call ye me Naomi,
seeing the Lord hath testified against me? and the Almighty
has afflicted me." We might ask, why should she make such a statement
as that? Well, there was a famine in the
land of Bethlehem, Judah. The Lord had brought a famine.
And what happened? In Limelech, a man of Bethlehem,
Judah, decided to leave. He was living in the place that
the Lord had ordained for the nation. He decided to leave. What did he do? He went down
to the country of Moab. Moab wasn't a godly nation. They
didn't serve the Lord. He left the land where they were
able to serve the true God. He left the place where God had
ordained that his people should be and live. But Noah that was
at time of famine, and off he gets and off he goes. Well we
know that it wasn't long when they were in Moab before he died. It wasn't long before Nehemiah's
two sons died also. and they were left the two daughters-in-law.
And then we observed that the Lord moved Naomi to return to
her own country. She knew the right place to go
and therefore she decided to return to her own country. I'm sure you're aware of the
account that Orpah kissed her mother-in-law and went back to
her own nation. But Ruth was the reverse. And Ruth said, entreat me not
to leave thee, or to return for following after thee. Whither
thou goest, I will go. Whither thou lodgest, I will
lodge. Thy people shall be my people,
and thy God my God. When I die, it's when I die,
and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more
also if aught but death, part thee and me." And so they went
back to Bethlehem. And it was when they came back
to Bethlehem, it came to pass when they had come to Bethlehem,
that all the city was moved about them. And they said, is this
Naomi? And then it was her response,
call me not Naomi, but call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt
very bitterly with me. And my friends, it is so. If
we walk contrary to the Lord, the Lord has said, if you walk
contrary to me, I will walk contrary to you. And that was so true
in the life of Naomi. Now we know the Lord had mercy
upon Naomai. But Elimelech died in that land
of Moab. He was not brought back. Naomai
was. But there was bitterness in that
situation. And how we find it, perhaps in
this situation here there was a bitterness because there was
that realization the Lord had dealt justly with them. who would
have brought to pass that which he had said. And there was that
bitterness. And she is in bitterness. Well, first let's think about
her priest's sigh. Why would the priest sigh? Because they didn't have the
temple. Because they didn't have the
ability to offer up sacrifices in the appointed place, because
they didn't have the Ark of the Covenant, because they didn't
have the Mercy Seat, they didn't have a high priest who was able
to go in on the annual Day of Atonement, All the time it was
for sign. Those wonderful situations which
existed, which directed the nation so clearly to the Lord Jesus
Christ. All those have been eliminated
and they were far off in that land of Babylon. And so those
priests, they sighed. The priests perhaps that remained
in the vicinity, they sighed. We can imagine them, can't we?
They'd seen the glory of the Lord. It's in His wonderful mercy
and faithfulness, and now desolation and barrenness. Well as that
may be so, today to a large extent in our nation, Is there indeed
that sighing? Are those true ministers of Christ
who sigh as they see the state of Zion? They see the state of
the Church of God and they mourn because of it. Because there
is a departure from following the Word of God, from following
the Lord Jesus Christ. There are men-pleasers rather
than God-pleasers. And as a result, There is spiritual
desolation. There may be perhaps sometimes
numbers, but to a large extent there is spiritual desolation. Well, what reason there was,
was there not, for these priests to sigh? And is it not cause
for us today to sigh because largely there is a withholding
of these spirits' work? My friends, the Lord is the same.
The Lord God is the same, yesterday and today and forever. I am the
Lord, I change not. The Lord is the same. But there
is a withholding of the blessing. We might say in essence the preaching
is the same, those who faithfully declare the word of God. But
my friends, there is not the effect in the souls of the people. There is a famine of the hearing
of the word of the Lord. It is a desolation. And what
does it produce? It produces sighing, hurtful
sighing. Christ is not lifted up. He is not exalted. There is not
that common cry. come and let us exalt his name
together. There is not that, is there,
if we are honest about it. Oh, that there might be then
a gracious and wonderful and blessed outpouring of the Holy
Spirit of God, so there may be a return. There may not be a
famine of the hearing of the word. And there is a famine of
the hearing of the word to a large extent. to a large extent, because
in years past there was much speaking of the sermons that
have been preached. As the people went home, many
of them walked and trudged home, they weren't talking about the
football matches or these kind of things, they were speaking
about the things of God. What do we conclude? If that
is not so, There must be a famine of the hearing of the word. Or
if there is a hearing of the word, perhaps it's only with
the natural ear and it's not really with our spiritual ear. It doesn't really move the heart. It doesn't really move the soul.
There isn't that real concern that Lord Jesus Christ may be
lifted up and honoured and glorified. There is just a continual going
on. There isn't that sighing. There
may be some sighing, but not very much. Sighing. Her priest sighed. Well, desolation. Sad it is, is it not? Sometimes
we might think there is not any desolation. We may fool ourselves. We may just continue in a downward
way. You see the churches, the true
churches who desire to worship the ever-living God, we see desolation,
do we not? We don't see liveliness, we don't
see spirituality, we see worldliness, we see worldly conversation.
Christ is not lifted up, he's not the ways of Zion do mourn, because
none come to the solemn feasts. All her gates are desolate. Her
priests sigh. Yes, there is a sighing. Christ
is not expounded. We may desire, I hope we do,
those words in Song of Solomon, draw me. We will run after thee. words which we are familiar with,
I'm sure. But do they really come from
our heart? Or do they come from our mind? There's a vast difference
between our head and our heart. Never forget that. A vast difference. So, simply demonstrated in the
Eighth of Acts between Simon the sorcerer and the eunuch.
the head and the heart. The great thing is that we desire
to know more of Christ from our heart, not from our head, from
our heart. Because if we are blessed with
that, it will indeed move us, it will move our spirits. We
will be lively in the things of God. Because we should be
Christ-like in our words, in our actions, in our thoughts.
The blessing is to be Christ-like in our thoughts. Those things
that only God knows about, no one else does. But oh, that we
might be brought into that blessed situation. Yes, draw me, we will
run after thee. And if there is that drawing,
then there's not that running. We have to assume there's not
the drawing, because there's not the running, and therefore
there's this desolation. Well, are we affected by it? The priests sigh, the virgins
are afflicted. You might say those who are young. Yes, they are afflicted. And
afflicted can be taken as being sinful, being taken up with carnal
things. Yes, the virgins are taken up
with carnal things and afflicted. Again, that's so true today,
isn't it? It's because of the materialistic world in which
we live. Because we follow so many things of this world. And
they are all around us. As it were, we are enveloped
in them. No different really to this day, this day in Jeremiah's
day. Things of the world were there
and they were enveloped in them and they fell under them. in
a different way that we do, but nonetheless they fell so far
short of the Word of God. They fell so far short of following
the Lord. Perhaps that's true of us today.
We fall so far short of truly following the Lord. Perhaps we
have to ask ourselves, what think ye of Christ? is the test. It is, isn't it? To evaluate
that statement, what do we really think of Christ? Do we have to
assume? Or do we have to say? Well, it must be that I don't
think very much of Christ. Perhaps it's because we don't
know very much of the depth of sin. Satan today pretends that
sin is pretty superficial and it's not very important and in
fact we needn't be worried about it. Well, let me just quote a
line of a hymn. Sinners can say and only they
how precious is the saviour. And the greater the sin is revealed
to us, the greater the Saviour becomes. And the more precious
the Saviour becomes. And the more we shall run after
Him. Virgins are afflicted and she
is in bitterness, sadness, true sorrow because of the situation. Now, Naomi and Eliminate really
only had themselves to blame, didn't they? They'd left Bethlehem
and gone down into Moab. We can say today, have we left
the Lord? Have we followed our own way?
Have we gone away from God? Follow perhaps what we might
term a social gospel. We've gone where there's not
much cost involved. There wasn't much cost to Israel. They were able to continue in
their way. It didn't bring sacrifices they should have done. My friends,
that's so true today. We find that for the most part,
religion is not very costly. If we are a true follower of
the Lord Jesus Christ, our religion will cost us. It will cost us. You may say, why is that? What
did it cost the Lord Jesus Christ? It cost him his life. It cost
him suffering upon Calvary's cross. Were a true follower of
the Lord Jesus Christ, do you think you and I would be exempt
from that situation? Like the Apostle Paul desired
fellowship with Christ, fellowship with his sufferings. He might
be made conformable unto his image. That was a good desire,
a good prayer. We read it, don't we? We pause
over it. My friends, do we really mean
it? Do we really desire to follow it? Or do we come back and find
bitterness? Because we're not receiving what
we thought we should perhaps. or what we wanted, or what we
desired. The relevant consideration is,
surely, to examine ourselves. To examine ourselves in the light
of scripture. That's the place where you and
I need to examine ourselves. In the light of scripture. And
as we read the word of God, to see how it speaks to us, and
how it directs us to the Lord Jesus Christ. Well tonight, this
twelfth verse tells us, 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 Apostle Paul advocates in
Hebrews, consider Him. My friends, may we consider Him
more and more and more and more. Be led to the cross, be found
at the cross, be found mourning over our sins and after Him and
truly desiring for spiritual liveliness and blessing in our
own souls and in the Church of God in this day and age in which
we live. This situation is recorded, not
just for an historical accomplishment. It's recorded so the Church of
God, throughout the ages, should apply it to themselves, so that
they might be stirred up by the Spirit of God and moved by the
Spirit of God to truly desire that liveliness in our souls,
nearness to Christ, so that He might be lifted up and that He
might be honoured and glorified, because He is worthy. Amen.