Let us turn once again to God's
Word in the portion that we read. The Lamentations of Jeremiah
chapter 3 and directing you for a little while to the words that
we find in verse 39. Lamentations 3.39 Wherefore doth
a living man complain? The margin says murmur. a man
for the punishment of his sins. Wherefore doth a living man complain,
a man for the punishment of his sins. Just to consider then something
of this man, the living man, the spiritual man, by nature
of course, none of us are in that sense spiritually alive. By nature we're spiritually dead.
And that's why the Lord Jesus Christ himself preaches the necessity
of regeneration, the new birth. The familiar words of John chapter
3, Verily, verily, says Christ, except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. And remember when Paul addresses
himself to the church at Ephesus, there in the second chapter he
reminds them what they were and what they became by the quickening
grace of God he says and you have he quickened who were dead
in trespasses and sins wherein in time past he walked according
to the course of this world According to the Prince of the Power of
the Air, the Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in
the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace
ye are saved." Those words, so familiar words. It is the grace
of God. And what is that grace of God?
It comes with that spiritual birth where the sinner is born
from above. That gracious work of the Holy
Ghost, His sovereign operations. in the sinner's soul. And so
we have in the text that man who is spoken of as being spiritually
alive, he's a living man. Wherefore doth a living man complain? A man for the punishment of his
sins and I want us to consider the man in this twofold aspect
first of all with regards to the complaint that is being spoken
of in the verse or the murmuring but then to see what the answer
is to this man's needs that there is an answer, and the answer
is found in the context. We read a considerable portion
of the chapter. It's a remarkable portion of
Holy Scripture, and it is full of much encouragement to those
who are the living children of God. But first of all, we see
here how that life, spiritual life, issues in feeling. And where there is that feeling
in the soul of a man, there will be reason for complaining. First
of all, he will have a definite consciousness of his sins. When he is dead in trespasses
and sins, he feels nothing at all spiritually. But once the
grace of God, the work of the Spirit comes into the soul of
that man, he has an awareness of what he is. How he fell in
his father Adam, how he has partaken of Adam's fallen nature, how
he is one who is a sinner. And we many times have sung those
words in the 89th hymn, New Life, from him we must receive before
for sin we rightly grieve. Those who are grieving over their
sins are those who have partaken then of that new spiritual life. They have a consciousness of
it and they feel that that sin so prevails against them And
that causes him much grief. The psalmist cries out, Iniquities
prevail against me. And then he says, Thou shalt
purge away our sins. Well, there's his confidence.
The purgatory of that precious blood of Christ that purges conscience
from all those dead works, all those sins. we're familiar I'm
sure with the content of the book of Psalms and you can think
about certainly in a Psalm like the 38th we see David who is
the man after God's own heart complaining of what he is by
nature how he's fallen, nature is in the very grip of sin as
he cries out there In verse 3, for example, he says, neither
is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. And I think in some ways we can
say that the counterpart of Psalm 38 in the New Testament is what
Paul says in the laments that we have in Romans chapter 7. And there, of course, he is very
much feeling the conflict between his old nature and his new nature. Oh, he was one who by the grace
of God was a partaker of the divine nature. There was that
new life in his soul. But how he felt what he was when
as a natural man he was sought, the self-righteous Pharisee.
What lessons that man had to learn. And how he cries out at
the end of that chapter, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? Here then is the reason why the
living man, the man who is spiritually alive, is a complaining man,
because of himself, because of his fallen nature. But you will
observe that here in the text, the complaint really has to do
with the way in which the Lord God is pleased to deal with the
man. Wherefore doth a living man complain,
or murmur, it says, a man for the punishment of his sins. Now that punishment is deserved
but that punishment is in no sense a penal punishment and
it's important that we recognize that. There is no sense at all
in which God visits the penal punishment of sin upon those
who are his children, those who are the election of grace. We
know that cannot be, because the Lord Jesus Christ has come
and has borne all that punishment that was the just desert of his
people. Oh, we see it, do we not, there
in the language of Isaiah 53 and verse 5? He was wounded,
says the Prophet, for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. There it is so
evident that the Lord Jesus Christ has borne all that penalty, all
that punishment that was the just deserts of those who were
the transgressors. Why, again, it's in Isaiah that
he utters these words and says, fury is not in me. With regards
to God's dealings with this man, this living man, There in Isaiah
27.4, God says, fury is not in me. Or God is angry with the
wicked every day. But this is that man, you see,
who is sinned out with and punished in the person of the Great Substitute,
the Lord Jesus Christ. So what are we to understand?
in the second part of the text, a man for the punishment of his
sins. What is being spoken of here,
evidently, is God's chastenings. How God does chasten his people,
how God does correct them and teach them and instruct them.
And we see it in the chapter. Verse 33, it says, He doth not
afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men and previously
where we began our reading verse 22 it is of the Lord's mercies
that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not they
are new every morning great is thy faithfulness when God chastens
his people he is dealing with them in the way of compassion
In fact, his chastening is a sign of the love that he bears towards
them. We know the language of Hebrews
chapter 12, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord,
for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every
son he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God
dealeth with you as with sons. What son is it whom the Father
chasteneth not? Chastening, then, is the evidence
of the love of God. He has set His love upon this
particular individual. This is one of His sons, one
that has been chosen and adopted in the Lord Jesus Christ from
all eternity. Here is the evidence, then, not
of God's anger, not the penal punishment of His sin, but the
mark of God's love as he corrects his wayward child. And Paul goes
on there in Hebrews 12 to say, Now no chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous, but grievous, nevertheless afterward it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them who exercise thereby. It's not a grievous thing Really,
it might seem to be. But it is really the mark of
the love of God. And so in the text, wherefore
doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? It's in the form of a question.
Is this man right to be complaining? We see at least three things
here with regards to the the purpose of the chastening. Why
does God chasten his people? Well, he's teaching them and
he will have them to learn the importance of self-examination. As he goes on in verse 40, let
us search and try our ways where necessary it is. Remember in
the 139th Psalm where David speaks of God as that one
who is omniscient. He knows all things. He's omnipresent.
He's in all places. He's high. He's everywhere. And what does he say at the end
of that psalm? Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me, and
know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in them,
and lead me in the way everlasting. Is that how we come to God? Is
that how we come to the Word of God? We want that the Lord
should search us and try us. Self-examination is so important. And we see it here immediately
after the text. Let us search and try our ways.
That's what the living man should do. In fact, he should ask that
God himself will come and search him and sift him. through and
through again think of the words of the
hymn afflictions make us see what else would escape our sight
how very foul and dim are we and God how pure and bright how
in afflictions in trials we learn the truth about ourselves but
hopefully we also see something of the truth of God or the chastening then the punishment
that's being spoken of is meant to lead to that self-examination
but also should it not lead to the seeking after God the crying
to God the calling upon God yes it's good to look to ourselves
but we're not always to be pondering ourselves we need to turn our
attention away from self and to look to the Lord God himself
and that's what follows really Let us search and try our ways,
it says, and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart
with our hands unto God in the heavens." Well, this is the important
thing then, that when God deals with us, it moves us to pray,
it moves us to call upon Him, to seek His face, to commit ourselves into His
hand. Again, remember the words of
the prophet Micah, where he speaks again of the chastening of God.
The Lord's voice crieth unto the city. The man of wisdom shall
see thy name, hear ye the rod, and do hath appointed it. God's
name is there. It's God himself who is dealing
with his people, and he will have his children to call upon
him, to cry to him. What is the situation so often
when God deals with us? Well, in a sense, we have to
acknowledge that it makes prayer to be somewhat difficult. It's not easy to pray in the
midst of trials and in the midst of troubles. And look at what
Jeremiah says previously, verse 8. When I cry and shout, he says,
he shutteth out my prayer. Verse 44, thou hast covered thyself
with the clouds that our prayers should not pass through. In the
midst of trials and afflictions, is it not like that time and
again? How can we pray? Words fail us. We scarce know
how to begin. But what do we have here in the
text? Wherefore doth a living man complain,
it says, or The margin has that word murmur. And isn't there
a sense in which those murmurings might be said to be real prayers? In that 38th Psalm that we referred
to, where David so much laments what he is as a sinner before
God, he can go on and say, Lord, all my desire is before thee,
and my groanings, my groanings are not hid from They. Or sometimes that's how we come
in prayer, is it not? Jesus, to Thee I make my moan,
my doleful tale I tell to Thee, for Thou canst help, and Thou
alone a lifeless lump of sin like me. Sometimes a believer
is in such a low place. And yet the Lord God hears those
prayers. Why? The Holy Spirit Himself is the
one who is helping in all those infirmities. He is the one who
is making intercession with those groanings that cannot be uttered. Where there are God's chastenings
in, there's self-examination, yes, but there's also that seeking,
that calling upon God. And often that calling is little
more than a groan, or a cry, or a murmuring, But then the third thing we see
with regards to the consequence of this chastening is that there
must be that sincerity. And we see it in verse 41, let
us lift up our hearts with our hands unto God in the heavens. It's not just lifting up the
hands, it's not just lifting up the eyes, it's not just going
through the motions of prayer. The heart is in it. It's hearty
prayer. As in God said, ye shall seek
me and find me when ye shall search after me with all your
heart. That's hearty prayer. When we
come in that sincere fashion before God. Or what is prayer
if it's nothing more than words? Many words, a multitude of words. writing to Timothy Paul speaks
of that bodily exercise that profiteth little he says but
godliness is profitable in all things having promise of the
life that there is and of that which is to come godliness, godliness but what
is that godliness? not just a form We read of some
who have a form of godliness but they deny the power thereof.
We want to know the power of that godliness. Or we want to
be those who are therefore wholehearted as we're seeking after God and
praying to God. Here then we see why it is that
this man complains. First of all it's evidence that
there's spiritual life in the soul of this man. There's been
that gracious work of the Spirit, that quickening, and he has been
made to feel something of his sinnership, he has such a consciousness
of it, and the Lord deals with him, and increasingly teaches
him what he is. But what is to be the result?
Well, the result must be that he has to turn away from himself
and he has to turn to his God and he has to trust in God and
that's what we see in what follows here certainly at the end of verse
14 turn again to the Lord let us turn again to the Lord
let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens
and who is this one that is to be turned to and prayed to. Why,
it is the sovereign God, but it is also that God who is the
God of the covenant, it's the Lord, as we see it there at the
end of verse 14. It's the covenant name, it's
Jehovah. It's the great I am that I am. And two things with
regards to this God. What do we see here? We see that
He is the God who is a compassionate God. We have that word in verse
22, it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because
his compassions fail not. Then again, verse 32, though he cause grief yet will
he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.
What are we to understand? What is this word, the significance
of it, this compassion? Well, it's from a verb that literally
means to be soft, to be gentle. That's the basic idea at the
root of this word. This is something of the very
character of God. Remember how the prophet Micah
speaks of God's compassions. At the end of his prophecy, Micah
chapter 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, they will perform the truth to
Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which they were sworn unto our
fathers from the days of old, all the forgivenesses and the
compassions of this God, this great God. And of course, it's
all revealed to us ultimately in the person of God's only begotten
Son. We see it with the incarnation,
The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, God, manifest in the
flesh. When he sees the multitude, there
in the end of Matthew chapter 9, when he saw the multitude,
it says, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted
and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. Why? He is a good shepherd. who cares
for his sheep, who seeks out his sheep, who gives his life
for the sheep, how he has compassion on the multitudes, how we see
something of the kindness, the tenderness of his ministry. He shall not strive, it says,
nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets,
a bruised reed shall he not break. nor quench the smoking flasks,
till he send forth judgment unto victory." Oh, the compassion
then of the Lord Jesus Christ. And how Paul reminds us of it
constantly in the epistle to the Hebrews. Who is that one
who was now given his life and died for the sheep? and risen
from the dead and ascended to heaven. It's the same Lord Jesus
Christ. He's full of compassion. When Paul is speaking of him
in his priestly office, he speaks of the ministry of the priests.
There in Hebrews 5, who can have compassion, he says, on the ignorant
and on them that are out of the way, for that he himself also
is compassed with infirmities. Oh, the Lord Jesus, you see.
He was compassed with infirmities. He was a real manhood, a real
human nature. Why, He's touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. Isn't that what the Apostle says
at the end of Hebrews 4? We have not had a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin.
or the compassion of this God, how it's revealed to us in the
person, the ministry, the work, the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And what sort of compassion is this? Why, it's a never failing
compassion. Look again at what it says there
in that 22nd verse, the first three, words are in italics. Do you know the significance
of that? They've been introduced in the translation. They're not
words that have been translated out of the Hebrew. And so the
verse could be read somewhat differently. We could read it
omitting those words are speaking of the Lord's compassions
as those that never fail. His compassions, the Lord's mercies
are not consumed because His compassions fail not. This is the God that we have
to deal with, never failing compassion, always compassionate, always
a merciful God. and as they are never failing
so God's compassion is ever faithful when he does come, when he comes
with his corrections it's only for a little time it's only for
a little time as we see verse 32 though he caused grief yet
will he have compassion according to the multitudes of His mercies. He does not afflict willingly.
The margin says the Hebrew is literally from the heart. He
does not afflict from the heart nor grieve the children of men. Oh, what a God! What a God is
this God! When trials, when troubles come,
remember the words of Peter there in his first epistle, chapter
1 and verse 6, and now for a season. Now, for a season, if needs be,
ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations. And we need to look
at that verse and to think almost of every word that appears in
that verse. Now. Just now. For a season. For a little while. For a small space of time. Ye
are in heaviness. Oh, it's only for a short period
of time. This is the way of God. This
is the gracious God that we're privileged to have dealings with.
Again, in the language of Isaiah there in chapter 54. And verse
7, For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies
will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face
from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have
mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer." Isn't that pure
gospel that we have in the Old Testament, in the book of the
Prophet Isaiah? But you see, in these lamentations, the Prophet
Jeremiah is wont to misjudge God. Because the lamentations
are lamenting what had befallen the children of Israel. This
prophet was contemporary with the period when Jerusalem was
overrun by the Babylonians and the temple destroyed and the
people taken away to exile. And you know the opening chapter
of the book, he sees Jerusalem and he weeps over the sitter
and the children of Israel taken away into exile. And so what does he think? He
thinks God is altogether against his people. But he's misjudging God. Look
at the language. He says in verse 43, Thou hast
covered with anger and persecuted us. Thou hast slain. Thou hast
not pitied. thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that thy
prayer should not pass through." But his reasoning is wrong. His
reasoning is wrong. He's a spiritual man, but spiritual
men sometimes make big mistakes. David, the man after God's own
hearts, was wont to make mistakes and to fall into sins. But look
at the language of the psalmist there in Psalm 89 God does deal with his people,
God does chasten his people he says there Psalm 89 verse
30 if his children forsake my law and walk not in my judgment,
if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments, then
will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity
with stripes. Nevertheless, my lovingkindness
will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness
to fail. My covenant will I not break,
nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn,
by my holiness, that I will not lie unto David, his seed shall
endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall
be established forever as the moon, and as a faithful witness
in heaven, see now." And it's speaking of David's seed, that's
the Lord Jesus Christ, it's the gospel, these are gospel promises.
But what a word is that in verse 33, nevertheless, nevertheless thank God for the
nevertheless and here is Jeremiah misjudging God his reasoning
is wrong God is a compassionate God and he will not utterly forsake
his children he will in the appointed time restore them had he not
said as much and that Word of God must be fulfilled. Here is the comfort then of the
living man with his complainings and his murmurings. Turn again to the Lord. Lift
up the hearts with the hands unto God in the heavens. And as God is a compassionate
God, so with God there is always that consistency. There's a constancy
with God, He's the unchanging one, He's the Lord, He's the
I am that I am. I am the Lord, I change not, He
says. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. Oh God is sovereign. in all his ways. Verse 37, Who
is he that saith, and he cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth
it not? Oh, there are many devices in
a man's heart, but it is the counsel of the Lord that must
stand. And here in verse 41, Let us lift up our heart with
our hands unto God in the heavens. All the Psalmist says in Psalm
115, our God is in the heaven. He hath done whatsoever he pleased. He is that one who is sovereign,
even as that haughty Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar was brought
to acknowledge. All he says concerning God after
God had deprived him of all his rationality. And he'd begun to
behave like one of the beasts of the fields and then God in
his goodness does restore reason to him and his acknowledgement
there in Daniel 4.34 whose dominion is of an everlasting dominion
and his kingdom from generation to generation and all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing and he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth and none can stay his hand or say to him, what doest thou? This is God. And it is here you
see that the living man turns. It's here that the living man
looks. It's to this God that the living man cries, even in
his complainings. Oh, he is that God who is sovereign. It's interesting, isn't it? Think
of the 39 articles of the Church of England. or that that church
would have some regard for its articles. Article 17 deals with
the doctrine of predestination and election. Those truths that
reveal to us the absolute sovereignty of God. And I like the comment
that we have there in those articles of the Reformed Church of England.
It says that the doctrine is full of sweet, pleasant, and
unspeakable comfort. Election, predestination full
of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort. That we are dealing
with such a God as that who is absolutely sovereign and unchangeable,
so sure in all his dealings. Verse 38 It says, Out of the mouth of
the Most High proceedeth not evil and good? Or there is that, you see, that
is consistent in all the ways of God? He is not a man that he should
lie, nor the son of man that he should repent. Hath he said
it, shall he not do it? Hath he spoken it, shall he not
make it good? Again, In Isaiah, how does the
prophet Isaiah address this God? He says, Thou most upright dost
weigh the part of the just. He is the upright God. There's
no shadow of turning with this God. He is ever the same, the
unchanging I am that I am. And so the living man, this spiritual
man that we read of in the text, and the question that's put in
the text. Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment
of his sins? We really have no cause to complain
because God is too wise to be mistaken, God is too good to
be unkind. But what do we see here in the
consequence to the text? Well we have that that is subjective we see the man and he's a living
man all true religion is more than
notion something must be known and felt and this living man
has spiritual feelings and as I said he is one who grieves
over sin he's one who feels when the Lord is dealing with him
in the way of correction and chastening but he's a living
man and think of the experience of that godly king Hezekiah,
as we read of it there in the middle of the book of the prophet
Isaiah, as well as in the books of Kings and Chronicles. We have
that man's history recorded three times, in Kings, in Chronicles,
and in Isaiah. And there in Isaiah 38, in that
remarkable prayer when he comes to his God, what does he say?
Isaiah 38, 19, he says, the living, the living, He shall praise the Lord. Those who have any spiritual
life we must be appraising people because that spiritual life has
come from the Lord and that life of course is all together in
the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him was life and the life
was the light of man. Why He says, I am the Way, the
Truth and the Life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by will. I am the resurrection and the
life. He is that one from whom we receive
life. And if that life is in our soul,
there'll also be the objective. There'll be that looking away
from self. Yes, there's a place for self-examination,
but what does the hymn writer say? Pour not on thyself too
long. lest it sink the lower, look to Jesus, kind, strong,
mercy joined with power. Oh, it's that looking, that looking,
that looking on to the Lord Jesus Christ, the author, the finisher
of our faith. Wherefore doth a living man complain,
a man for the punishment of his sins? Well, what are we to do? Well, we're to search our ways.
We're to examine ourselves. But then we're to turn from ourselves
and we're to pray to the Lord and call upon His name and lift
up our heart with our hands unto that God who is in the heavens
who does according to His goodwill and pleasure. Well, the Lord
help us thus to come to Him in our prayers tonight. Now before
we do turn to God in prayer, let us sing our second phrase, the hymn 307 and the tune Haslingdon,
544. And must it, Lord, be so? And must
thy children bear such various kinds of woes, such soul-perplexing
fear? Are these the blessings we expect?
Is this the lot of God's elect? 307, the tune 544.