Let us turn then to God's Word
and turning to that chapter that we read, the book of the Lamentations. And I want to take for a text
what we find here in the opening verse of the chapter. In fact,
just the first part of the first verse where the Prophet declares,
I am the man. I am the man that has seen affliction
by the rod of his wrath." Of course the book is very much
a lament and really that's the theme that we're taking up, the
lament of Jeremiah as he beholds Jerusalem in ruin and God's severe
dealings with the kingdom of Judah having sent the Babylonians
having brought them as it were into such cruel bondage being
taken away into exile. Doubtless he felt that the Lord's
dealings were most severe And we see it in various portions
of this chapter that we read through, this remarkable third
chapter. There at verse 45, he says, Thou
hast made us as the off-scouring and refuse in the midst of the
people. All our enemies have opened their
mouths against us. Fear and a snare has come upon
us, desolation and destruction. And we see quite clearly right
from the beginning, even there in the opening words of the book,
verse 3 of chapter 1, he says, "...Judah is gone into captivity
because of affliction and because of great servitude. She dwelleth
among the heathens, she findeth no rest. All her persecutors
overtook her between the straits. The ways of Zion do mourn, because
none come to the solemn feast. All her gates are desolate, her
priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness."
And so time and again we see him, looking all around him,
conscious of the dreadful judgment that has come upon the people.
There in verse 8 of chapter 1, Jerusalem hath grievously sinned,
therefore she is removed. For that on her doth despise
her, because hath seen her nakedness, yea, she sieth and turneth backwards. But then ultimately he feels
that he himself really is the cause of so much of the trouble
I am the man he says in the words of the text and then when we
come to the to the end of the chapter we read right through
the 66 verses and there in the closing part from verse 45 following
we see how he is always using the singular pronoun referring
to himself He speaks of me and my and mine in all of those verses. It's so personal. It's not that
he is wanting to look about him and to blame others for those
awful destructions that have come upon the people of God,
but he takes it so personally. I am the man. Well, let us consider for a while
this morning something of the lament or the lamentation of
Jeremiah and we have to recognize two parts to it of course there
is very much a great deal of sorrow in the heart of the man
and yet ultimately and we saw this I'm sure as we were reading
through the chapter he is reminded time and again of God and the
goodness of God and the compassions of God but first of all we see
how he feels himself to be one so shut up to what he is, what he feels
with regards to the cause of all these troubles and that is
his sense surely of his sinnership look at the language that we
have in verse 7 he has hedged me about he says that I cannot
get out he hath made my chain heaven how God has hedged him
about verse 5 he speaks of being encompassed surrounded he speaks
of how he's encompassed me with gall and and travail this is
a man who as he sees the dreadful things the desolations that have
come as the consequence of the assaults of the Babylonians.
Now he has a consciousness of sin. Consciousness of sin. This inward examination of himself,
the recognition of his own guilt in the midst of the nation. Doesn't
the Apostle in the New Testament in Galatians 3 remind us that
the Scripture hath concluded all under sin? Paul makes that
statement that the Scripture hath concluded all under sin
that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to
them that believe. But, before faith came, says
Paul, we were kept under the law shut up to the faith that
should afterward be revealed. And it's interesting what Paul
is saying there in Galatians 3 in those two verses 22 and
23. In verse 22 he speaks of all
being on the sin and then in verse 23 he says that under the
law And our parallel statements are under sin. Why are they under
sin? Because they're under the law.
Where does sin get its power from? It gets its power from
the law. And that power that the law gives
to sin is so terrible and so fatal. Again, remember the words
of the apostle, right in there in 1 Corinthians 15 and verse
56, he says the strength of sin is the law. The strength of sin
is the law. The law worketh wrath, for where
no law is, there is no transgression." Of course the transgression is
there, sin is there, but what is Paul saying when he speaks
of the law? It is the law of God that makes
sin what it is in the experience of those that the law is dealing
with. The law in that sense worketh
wrath, whosoever committeth sin is transgressing the law. Sin
is the transgression of the law and it's when the Lord God begins
to deal with a man in terms of showing him what he is, where
he is. in the eyes of a God who is holy and righteous and just
that revelation that God has given of himself in the law or by the law sin becomes exceeding
sinful that sin by the commandment might
become exceeding sinful that's the language that Paul uses there
in Romans chapter 7 And again, we see it time and again in the
epistles of the Apostle, how he deals so faithfully with men,
how he deals so faithfully with those churches that he was so
used of the Lord in first establishing as he writes to them and gives
them their instruction. He continually reminds them of
what that ministry of the law is, what things soever the law
says. It said to them who are under
the law that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world
become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in his sight." By the law. By
the law is the knowledge of sin. The law is good then when a man
is using it in that lawful fashion. It's not made for a righteous
man. Oh, it's made for the sinner, for the transgressor, for the
disobedient. And what does it show us first
and foremost? It shows us that awful sin of
unbelief. The sin which Paul says so easily
besets us. The besetting sin. It's not some
darling sin that we might feel that we're rather prone to. But
no, in the context there at the beginning of Hebrews 12, where
he makes that statement, of course, the context is that that we have
in the previous 11th chapter, where he's been speaking so plainly
with regards to the faith of those Old Testament believers.
And then he goes on in chapter 12 to speak of the sin which
so easily besets us, our unbelief. It's that that is at the root
of all our sins. It's that that was there in the
garden of Eden when Eve partook of that forbidden fruit under
the temptation of the devil. What was the temptation? It was
unbelief. Not believing what God had said
to Adam. concerning transgression in the
day that they eat us hereof they shall surely die and the devil
comes and contradicts the word of God and tells his lie they
shall not surely die and in unbelief she embraces the lie of the devil
and then she gives the fruit to Adam and Adam also with wide
open eyes partakes it's unbelief the denial of the word of God or we have to believe what God
says we have to believe what God says
in scripture even concerning the fall of our first parents
we have to believe in that sense in the awfulness of unbelief
and our own unbelief isn't that where we're when we're born into
this world we're born dead in trespasses and in sins And God
has appointed that ministry of the Lord to show us what our
true state is. The strength of sin, it's the
Lord of God when He comes into the heart of the sinner. And so the language that the
Prophet is using when he says here in verse 7, He has led me
about, that I cannot get out. It's similar language that we
find in the experience of so many of the saints of God here
in Scripture. We see it again, don't we, in
the language of the psalmist, Psalm 88 and verse 8, he says
something very similar, I am shut up and I cannot come forth,
I can't deliver myself, I can't free myself. Again, in Job, in
Job chapter 12 and verse 14, he shut up a man and there is
no coming forth. This is a testimony of the Word
of God. These are the truths we have
to believe. If we know anything of the grace of God, we must
begin here surely with this consciousness of sin. And this was the case
with the Prophet. Yes, he's lamenting all that
he witnesses round about him, all the dreadful destruction
and desolation. the judgments of God that have
fallen upon the nation. But he says, I am the man. I am the man. Oh, it's so personal
with this man. Again, in the New Testament,
in the language of the Apostle Romans 11.32, God hath concluded
them all in unbelief, says Paul, that he might have mercy on all. If we know the mercy of God,
we'll know what it is for God to conclude us. First of all,
in unbelief, this dreadful consciousness of sin. But then, here in the
case of Jeremiah, there's not only that consciousness of sin,
but there's that awareness of chastenings, forcing. and chastenings
that will be profitable because they'll bring that true conviction
of sin into his soul. I am the man, he says, that hath
seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. Again, later in the chapter,
verse 39, Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment
of his sins? Oh, you see, here is the evidence. He's a living soul, a living
man. Yes, he's mourning, he's moaning. He has such a sense,
such a consciousness of what sin is. And he sees that the Lord God
is dealing with him in the way of chastening. What he is feeling now, with
regards to himself, is something that he needs to feel. But you
know, we have to recognize this, that when God does begin to deal
with the souls of his people in this fashion, there is nothing
penal in any chastenings. There's nothing
penal in God's chastenings when he comes and when he afflicts
his people. when he causes them in their
experiences to know these these bitter trials and troubles there's
nothing at all penal in any of that there cannot be because
Christ Christ has borne all the penalty of sin we're familiar
of course with the language of the Apostle in that great 53rd
chapter of Isaiah and how plain it is,
surely says Isaiah he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows again verse 5 he was wounded
for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the
chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes
we are healed all the The just deserts of the sinner's sin has
been visited upon the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
has borne the punishment and payment. God cannot twice demand,
first at my bleeding surety's hand and then again at mine.
Says top lady in the hymn. How true, how true are those
words. with regards to his people God
can say fury is not in me he has set his love upon them from
all eternity they are the objects of his choice and Christ has
come to make the great propitiatory sacrifice to bear all that fury
and all that wrath of God in his own person and so although
The prophet here says I am the man and feels these things. Look
at what he says later in the chapter concerning God and the
dealings of God. Verse 33 He does not afflict
willingly nor grieve the children of men. And again the margin
is helpful because it tells us what the Hebrew literally says.
Willingly is literally from his heart. according to the margin
he does not afflict from his heart the children of men these
that he is dealing with these that he has made so conscious
of their sinnership he's chastening and he's instructing them again
verse 22 it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed
because his compassions fail not." Or the Lord is not dealing
then here in any penal way with Jeremiah or with those who are
the true Israel of God. The Lord Jesus has borne that
dreadful punishment of sins. It's the lamentation of Jeremiah
and of course it follows the book, the prophecy of Jeremiah.
and there in Jeremiah 31 verse 18 he says I have surely
heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus thou hast chastened me and
I was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke turn
thou me and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God
surely after that I was turned I repented And after that I was
instructed, I smote upon my thigh, I was ashamed, yea, even confounded,
because I did bear the reproach of my youth." What a favor and
a blessing then, when God causes His people to behave as He from
His heir, bemoaning. And yet, the profitability of
it, because the Lord is dealing with His people. He makes His
people see and feel then that sin that is within. There's the complaint, yes, because
there's that sense of sin, that conviction of sin. As we see there in verse 39,
that living man complains. And again, the margin gives the
word murmur. And yet, such profitability because
God's in it. My heart is pained within me,
says the psalmist. I am the man. There is then here
that realization of what sin is, that sense of being shut
up into it. That recognition that God's hand
has come upon him, to bring him to that place of a sense of his
true state and standing in his great need before God. But what is the consequence of
all of this? You see, the Lord God doesn't
take up any of his creatures as playthings. That's not the
way of the Lord. When he deals with a man, when
he brings him to that place of the conviction of his sin, does
he not have a gracious end in view? The consequence, the consequence
of course is this, it's a salvation of sinners. That's what the Lord
God Himself is concerned with, to bring that sinner to the place
of blessing, pardon of all his sins. And isn't this what we
see throughout the chapter? Verse 18, I said, My strength
and my hope is perished from the Lord, Remembering mine affliction
and my misery, the wormwood and the gore, my soul hath them still
in remembrance and is humbled in me. This I record to my mind. Therefore have I hope. In verse 18 his hope is perished
but then as he remembers and there's an emphasis isn't
there in these verses of of that exercise, remembering, taking
account of God's dealings, recalling God's dealings. And so the scene
changes and instead of hope perishing, he says at the end of verse 21,
therefore have I hope. And again, later in the chapter, Verse 56, he says, Thou hast
heard my voice, hide not Thine ear at my breathing, at my cry. Thou drewest near in the day
that I called upon Thee. Thou saidst, Fear not. O Lord,
Thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul. Thou hast redeemed
my life. And it's a perfect sense, isn't
it? It's what God has already done. Thou hast redeemed my life. In spite of all the bitterness
that he felt in his soul, I am the man. It's so personal what
he is saying here. He's not just observing and making
observation. He's feeling something in the
depth of his soul. But what do we see? We see here,
surely, the humbling of the sinner the humbling of the sinner verse
21 we just read it my soul hath him still in remembrance and
is humbled in me humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand
of God says Peter and ye shall be exalted in due
course that's how God deals with his people He turns the man to destruction
first. And then He says to that man,
return ye children of men. All the ways of God, the gracious
ways of God. I am the man. He is that man. Think of the language of David
when Nathan the prophet, the Lord's servant, comes and deals
so faithfully with him. you know that passage there in
2 Samuel chapter 12 David has been guilty of gross sins, awful
sins he's a murderer, he's an adulterer really and the prophet
speaks plainly with him and David is told in no uncertain terms,
David thou art the man thou art the man or when God comes to
us and fingers our consciences and touches our hearts are we
not made to say I am the man and how humbling it is how humbling
it is when the Lord causes us to bow down before him it's the
end of self really and that's where the Lord has to bring us
to the very end of ourselves he turns the man to destruction
We have no confidence in ourselves. Where do we look? We have to
look to the Lord. And so, as there is the humbling
of the sinner, so there is also that blessed hope for the sinner.
Verse 21, I recall, This I recall to my mind, therefore have I
hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed. Because His compassions they
fail not, they are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. Oh, there's that turning away
from ourselves, and there's that looking to the Lord. All our
hope can only be there and nowhere else. But let us recognize that these
things stand together, that God makes a man feel what he is in
order that that man might know the great blessing of salvation. Though he cause grief, yet will
he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. We read here at verse 32. The hope then of the sinner,
I want to mention two things really with regards to God and
the dealings of God here in bringing the man to this. Firstly, We
see much here of God's compassion. God's compassion. We have it
in the 22nd verse, that lovely verse. It is of the Lord's mercies
that we are not consumed because His compassions fail not. When
the Lord brings us to the end of self it might seem that everything's
gone. What can the sinner do now? He's
lost and he feels his lostness. But God's compassions, they never
fail. And then again, in verse 32,
Though he caused grief, yet will he have compassion, according
to the multitude of his mercies. Now, the word that we have here,
compassion, is derived from the verb that simply means to be
soft, to be gentle. And that's what compassion is
in the Lord God, is it not? That's tenderness of heart that
the Lord has towards the sinner. Oh, what a God is this, the God
that we come to worship, the God with whom we have to do.
I direct you again to those remarkable
words at the end of the prophecy of Micah. like 7 verse 18, who is a God
like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the
transgression of the remnant of his heritage, he retaineth
not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will
turn again. He will have compassion upon
us. He will subdue our iniquities. And they will cast all their
sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to
Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our
fathers from the days of old. He is a God, then, who has a
soft and a compassionate heart. And we see it all, of course,
revealed so fully in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the course
of his ministry when he saw the multitudes we are told he was
moved with compassion or when he looked upon the multitudes
this man who was holy and harmless and undefiled and separate from
sinners and made higher than the heavens when he looked upon
sinners how he is moved with compassion towards them how he
goes about throughout his earthly ministry doing good and the Apostle
reminds us doesn't he of this High Priest we have not an High
Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities
but he was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin
nothing of sin in him but how we knew what sore temptations
were we were reminded of it in our opening hymn the compassion
that is demonstrated in the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus
Christ who can have compassion on the
ignorant and on them that are out of the way for that he himself
also is encompassed about with infirmities he knew all our our
sinless infirmities he's a real man that's the wonder of the
incarnation He never ceases to be anything but true almighty
God. But that holy thing, that human
body, that human soul that was joined to the person of the eternal
Son of God is clothed in a real human nature. He's one with his
people. He has compassion. He has compassion. that's the ministry of Christ
and you know here we're reminded aren't we how God's compassions
they never fail in verse 22 the opening words
there are in italics it is of it is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed if we omit those italicized words and you
know why they're there the translation of any Hebrew in the verse, they've
been introduced in the translation to bring out the meaning in our
English language. But if we omit them, we may have
this idea the Lord's mercies are not consumed. The Lord's
mercies can never be consumed. They are new every morning. Great
is thy faithfulness, all the compassion of our God. He's a
God who is good, and a God who does good. And so though He might
bring us into that terrible realization of what our sin is, and make
us feel it, and shut us up to what we are, but we have hope
really, even in that sad situation. near them we see something of
God's compassion then also are we not reminded all of God's
sovereignty the sovereignty of God what a
comforting truth is that verse 37 who is he that saith and he
cometh to pass when the Lord commandeth it not all men might
think that they can stand out and oppose God
and have their own ways but the Lord will laugh and have them
all in division His sovereignty we know is an absolute sovereignty
the wise man tells us there are many devices in a man's heart
nevertheless the counsel of the Lord that shall stand it's not
the devices of men, it's not the machinations of Satan It's
the will of God that is paramount. All the inhabitants of the earth
are accounted as nothing and He doeth according to His will
among the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth
and none can stay His hand and say to Him, what doest thou? Isn't that our comfort that God
is sovereign and He's sovereign in all His ways, in all His dealings,
yes? He's a holy, and a righteous,
and a just God. But that God is the one who is
also merciful, and gracious, and compassionate, and loving,
and ever true to himself. And in all his dealings with
us, while mercy and truth are met together, righteousness and
peace have kissed each other. When he pardons our sins, it's
an act of justice. I love those words there at the
end of the opening chapter of John's first general epistle
if we confess our sins if we confess our sins it doesn't say
does it he is gracious and merciful and compassionate to forgive
our sins he is that but it says he is faithful and just to forgive
our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness or if we
say that we have not sinned we make him a liar and His Word
is not in us or we are to come then before this God who is the
Almighty God and the Sovereign God and able to save to the uttermost
all that come unto God through the Lord Jesus Christ and as
God is Sovereign we know that His Word must therefore be a
sure Word Again, Jeremiah says it here
in the chapter. Out of the mouth of the Most
High proceedeth not evil and good. All that God says is good. All that God says is true. He
is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he
should repent. Oh, hath he said it, shall he
not do it? Hath he spoken it? Shall he not make it good? We're to look to him and we're
to trust in his word. And that is the comfort really
that this man finds in this chapter. I am the man, he says. And yet,
though he beholds so much evil and though he's so conscious
of his own part, really, in all that is before us. The nation
is not better than any other. He's only what he is by the grace
of God. And ultimately, he will know
the comforts of God. Though he's been shut up into
himself, into the sense of his sinnership, he hath hedged me
about that I cannot get out. He hath made my chain heavy,
he says. He hath enclosed my ways with
hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked. He was unto me as a
bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places. All of this
language is used. But then also, what does he go
on to say later? Those words at verse 18 following,
he remembers. Remembering mine affliction and
my misery, the wormwood and the gall, My soul hath them still
in remembrance, and is humbled in me. This I recall to my mind,
therefore, he says, have I hope. When we come right at the end
of the chapter, verse 56, Thou hast heard my
voice, hide not Thine ear at my breathing, at my crying. Thou
drewest near in the day that I called upon Thee, Thou saidst,
Fear not. O Lords, Thou hast pleaded the
causes of my soul, Thou hast redeemed my life." Oh, what a
testimony of this man then. It's a wonderful chapter. There's
so much in this chapter. There's so much in this little
book. Yes, it's a lamentation. But God grants that we might,
even in this portion, discover something of the wonders of God
and the ways of God and the grace of God. To be able to say in
the midst of all those dealings that the Lord is indeed taking
an interest in us individually and personally. I am the man. Or can we say that we're those
men and women that the Lord has had such dealings with that he's
brought us to such a sense of our needs and yet also to that
blessed experience of that great salvation that is only in the
Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord be pleased to bless
His word. Amen.