Let us turn to God's Word in
that chapter that we read, Lamentations chapter 3. It's a long chapter
but quite a remarkable portion of Holy Scripture and I did wonder
whether it was too long a chapter to read through for our lesson
and thought maybe we could read up to somewhere in the 40th or 41st verse, but then
decided that it would be profitable to read through to the end of
this portion of Holy Scripture. And I want to direct your attention
this morning to just a few words that we find at the beginning
of verse 7 in Lamentations chapter 3. and the first part of verse
7, He hath hedged me about that I cannot get out. This is the word, of course,
of God, but this surely is also the experience of that man who
was the Lord's prophet even, Jeremiah. And he writes of his
experience, of course, under the gracious influence and inspiration
of the Holy Ghost. It's God's Word and yet it is,
in reality, the experience also of the godly man he has hedged
me about that I cannot get out. Jeremiah ministered at the time
of the Babylonian captivity. And in this short book that follows
his prophecies, we have his lamentations, how he laments the sad condition
of God's ancient covenant people. Judah had been removed into exile,
Jerusalem then had fallen, the temple had been destroyed by
the armies of Nebuchadnezzar. And in this chapter we see how
the prophet laments the condition of Judah and Jerusalem. In verse 45, following, Thou
hast made us as the offscouring and the refuse in the midst of
the people. All our enemies have opened their
mouths against us, Here in the snare is come upon us desolation
and destruction. Mine eye runneth down with rivers
of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people."
He has much to say then in the latter part of the chapter concerning
the sad state of God's ancient people and the city of God, the
city of Jerusalem in fact if we go to the very beginning of
the book we see how he opens with awful lamentations how doth
the city sit solitary that was full of people how is she become
as a widow she that was great among the nations and princess
among the provinces how is she become tributary she weepeth
sore in the night and her tears are on her cheeks. Among 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 and because
of great servitude. She dwelleth among the heathen.
She findeth no rest. All her persecutors overtook
her between the straits. And so forth. What awful lamentations
then we have there at the beginning of the book. He is mindful then
of the condition of God's people in general. But the striking
thing is here in this third chapter, in the opening part from verse
1 through to verse 21 he speaks very much of himself the singular
pronoun is used throughout this opening section you'll observe
how verse 22 as the paragraph market introduces another subject
in a sense. The first 21 verses then are
the opening paragraph of the chapter and here I say he speaks
in such personal terms. I am the man, he says, in verse
1. I am the man that hath seen affliction
by the rod of his wrath. He hath led me and brought me
into darkness, not into light. And so forth, throughout. It's
a very personal word that the man is inspired to write. And so in the words that I've
announced for our text, he says, he hath hedged me about that
I cannot get out. And so I want first of all to
consider with you this morning that here we see the sinner as
he is shut up. The sinner as he is shut up as
his case seems to be such a hopeless case. And why is it so? Because here is a man who has
a certain consciousness of his sins. He is one who is made aware
of his sad condition and such is the case with this man that
there seems to be no way of escape. He cannot get out, he cannot
free himself. He affects me about, he says
that I cannot get out. Remember, with regard to Old
Testament Scriptures, we do well to turn to the New Testament
for the key, to unlock so much of what is contained there in
the Old Testament. And so, if we turn to the New
Testament, there in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 22 and verse
23, we read these words, But the Scripture hath concluded
all under sea, 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 we were
kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards
be revealed." Here we observe what Paul says to the Galatians
concerning those who are the inheritors of the great promise
of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, and we read in verse
22 that they are concluded under sin. Verse 23, that they are
kept under the law, shut up. They are those then who are brought
to this experience, have an awareness, a very real consciousness of
their sins. From whence does sin get its
power? Sin gets its power from the law.
That is the teaching of Scripture. Those there in Galatians 3 are
said to be under sin and they are said to be under the law. Again, Paul to the Corinthians
tells us quite clearly the strength of sin is the law. And this is
the experience of Jeremiah in the Lamentations, is it not?
He is that man who was obviously made aware of his sinnership
and the awful bondage of that sinnership. The gods hedged him
about and he could not extricate himself, he could not deliver
himself, he couldn't free himself. Here is the awful strength of
the Lord of God. The law worketh wroth, says the
Apostle, where there is no law. There is no sin, because sin
is the transgression of the law. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth
also the law. Sin is the transgression of the
law. the significant sin of the Lord of God, the right lawful
use of the law of God. It's by the law, Paul says, that
sin becomes exceeding sinful. How necessary it is that we are
those who are confronted by the terrorist end of that holy, righteous
and just law of God. Whatever things the law saith,
it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may
be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God. Therefore,
Paul says, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified
in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. And what is that lies at the
very root of sin? It is, of course, that cursed
unbelief that is the root of all our sins. that sin which
does so easily beset us as we are told in the opening verse
of Hebrews chapter 12. Previously in chapter 11 the
Apostle has said before us the great exploits of those who were
the faithful in the Old Testament, those who were living the life
of faith. And then, immediately after that
great catalogue of the faithful, he speaks of the sin which easily
besets. And it is that that is the very
opposite of fact. It is that accursed sin of unbelief. And what is the record of God
here in Holy Scripture? We have the account there in
Genesis chapter 3 concerning the entrance of sin, the fall
of our first parents and that unbelief that lies at the very
root of that fall. Unbelief is the root sin and
here of course when God takes the man in hand when God shuts
that man in, when God hedges that man about he is made to
feel the truth of those things that are recorded in the scriptures,
that terrible history that we have in Genesis chapter 3, the
disobedience of our first parents. But the man doesn't just read
it now as history, it is a truth that comes into the sinner's
own soul. We have to believe, you see,
what God himself has said of the four. We have to believe
that. We have to believe then in our
own unbelief. Though that might sound to be
a strange contradictory sort of a term, to believe in our
unbelief, and yet that is the truth. That was the experience
of the godly of all. That was the experience of this
man Jeremiah. He has hedged me about that I
cannot get out. He believed what he was. He was
made not only to see what he was, but to feel what he was.
He could not deliver himself. John Newton says, Oh, could I
but believe, then all would easy be. I would, but cannot, Lord. Relieve my help must come from
Thee. And it's not just the testimony,
of course, of one man. Jeremiah is the testimony of
the godly as we have it in so many parts of the Old Testament. In Job chapter 12, for example,
He shutteth up a man, we read, and there can be no opening.
When God shuts the man up, when God shuts the man in to the truth
of his condition, as a son or a daughter of Adam, or that person,
he's made to feel what they are, made to realize their utter inability. Again, the testimony of Haman
in Psalm 88, I am shut up, he says, and I cannot come forth. Here is the sinner shut up. He
has this awareness, this consciousness of what he is. He's been brought
not only to ascends to the truth of the history that's recorded
in Genesis chapter 3, but he's been made to feel the truth of it, the reality
of it. in his own soul. He is that one who is the son,
the daughter of Adam. But not only a consciousness
of sin, but here we see that God in a sense is chastening
and correcting the man. How does this chapter begin? He says, I am the man I am the
man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath." And
then again at verse 39 he cries out, Wherefore doth a living
man complain? A man for the punishment of his
sins. This is that selfsame man you
see. He is a living man, and it's the living man, it's only
the living man who feels the reality of his condition. new
life from Him we must receive before for sin we rightly grieve. Oh how personal is the Prophet
here, as he makes bare, as it were, his own soul. I am the
man, he says. And yet, he can say that he is
that man because life has come into his soul. is made to feel
what he is. He's a living man. Wherefore
doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his sins? Now, there's no doubt here that he
is very much aware that punishment is deserved. He deserves to suffer
and to suffer at the hand of God. However, we have to recognize
that that punishment that is visited upon such a man as this
is not a penal punishment. It cannot be a penal punishment
because that punishment has been visited upon another man. And who is that other man? Well
Pontius Pilate says concerning the Lord Jesus, behold the man
as Christ is arrayed there before his accusers in that mockery
of a trial that he had to endure. And God of course has visited
the penal punishment of sins upon the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ when he stood there as the surety
of his people. He bore in his own person that
that was the just desert of the living man, that's spoken of
here in verse 39, wherefore doth a living man complain? A man
for the punishment of his sins. Wasn't the Lord Jesus Christ
punished as a substitute? Isn't that the great truth that
stands so clear in that 53rd chapter of Isaiah that we're
so familiar with? Verse 10, Yet it pleased the
Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief when
they shan't make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see
his seed He shall prolong his days. The pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied and so forth. Here is the man, you
see. Even the man Christ Jesus. Again, previously there, verse
4, Surely he hath borne our griefs. and carried our sorrows, yet
we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted, but 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." Oh, this is that
man, you see, who has suffered in the room and in the stead
of others and payment God cannot twice demand first at my bleeding
short his hand and then again at mine all that would be most
unjust on the part of God and God is a just God and a Saviour
and so concerning the sinner as he finds himself
in this sad condition where he is hedged about and cannot extricate
himself and shut up and cannot free himself. What does God say
to such a man as this? Fury is not in man. There is no penal punishments
for this man because another has borne that punishment that
was his just desert. And so what does the Prophet
say? Verse 33, He does not afflict
willingly nor grieve the children of men. Verse 22, It is of the
Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions
fail not. Oh yes, the man, he feels his
sin, he feels that he is deserving of the dreadful consequence of
his sin. He is that one who should be
punished because of his transgressions. But not so. Not so, because one has already
suffered for this man. And so the Lord will not, He
cannot punish this man over again. It is of the Lord's mercy that
this man is not consumed because of his sins. Again look at words
that we find in the prophecies of Jeremiah. If we go back there
in chapter 31 of Jeremiah And verse 18 he says, I have
surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, Thou hast chastised
me, and I was chastised. As a bullock unaccustomed to
the yoke, turn thou mine, and I shall be turned, for thou art
the Lord my God. Surely after I was turned I repented,
and after I was instructed I smote upon my thigh. I was ashamed,
I even confounded. because I did bear the reproach
of my youth. Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For since I spake against him,
I do earnestly remember him still. Therefore my bowels are troubled
for him. I will surely have mercy upon
him, saith the Lord." Here is the man grieving. over his sin,
even Ephraim. And yet, there is pardon, there
is forgiveness for him. O Israel, thou hast destroyed
thyself, but in me, says God, in me is thy help found. How this man grieves in this
living man, this man who has this awful sense of his sinnership. how this man is complaining. We have it here in verse 39,
wherefore doth a living man complain? And the word is an interesting word. It's a reflexive verb that's
used here. Literally, it has the idea of
the man wearing himself. Where doth a man weary himself? That's the basic meaning of the
particular word that's used, to weary oneself. And this man
is wearied. He's wearied because of sin.
He sees sin all about him and he grieves him. As he looks around
and he sees the sad state of the world, Remember the words
of another prophet there in the book of the prophet Ezekiel in
chapter 9 and verse 4, God gives instruction. The Lord said unto
him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of
Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that
sigh and cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
Oh, that man who sighs and cries. that man who bemoans himself,
that man who complains because of what he witnesses all around
him, the sinful state of Jerusalem. And this was the case with Jeremiah. He lamented the sins of the nation. He saw what the consequence would
be. He saw what dreadful judgments
would follow. And David wearied himself in
these things. but not only that that he sees
with his eyes all around him but that that he also feels in
his own heart it's himself that he grieves over most of all my
heart says the Sámist is sore pained within why? so because of what the man feels
concerning himself he cannot really point a finger at others
it is himself that is his chief complaint because God has made
him to feel what he is. This is the dealings of God then
with this prophet. I am the man, he says, he has
hedged me about that I cannot get out. He has made my chain
heavy. There's no way in which he can
in any sense bring himself forth or deliver himself, make himself
through. Here then we see the sinner as
he is shut up. But then also, in this chapter,
do we not witness the same man as the sinner who is saved? You see the consequence here,
there is salvation for such a man as this. And we see when we come
to the end of this opening paragraph. In verse 18 I said, My strength
and my hope is perished from the Lord, 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 have I hope." Now what is the consequence here? Two
things. We see the man humbled. Here
is the humbling of the sinner in verse twenty he says my soul
hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me or when God deals with a man
you see thou turnest man to destruction how humbling it is to be made
so conscious of what we are as sinners by the dealings of God
with our souls thou turnest man to destruction and sayest return
ye children of men. Humble yourselves therefore under
the mighty hand of God that ye might be exalted in due time. Our God hath regard to the humble
but he knoweth the proud afar off. Here is the purpose of God. It's not to leave this man in
this sad condition where He feels himself so hedged about, feels
himself so shut in and shut up to what he is. It's not God's
purpose to leave the man there, it's not enough, is it? To have
that consciousness of our sinnership, to be aware of that awful doctrine
of man's total depravity and man's utter inability. That is
but the first of what we know as those five points. of Calvinism that was stated
at the great synod of Dorfrecht. That is the first. But there
are other great truths that follow other great truths that we have
to learn. But what is God's purpose at the beginning? It is to humble
a man. To humble the man. And then we
see that there is hope. for those who are humbled under
the mighty hand of God. My soul hath some stilling remembrance,
he says in verse 20, and is humbled in thee. This I recall to mind,
therefore have I hope. Down at verse 29, he put of his
mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope. Oh, there's hope,
friends, for those who are truly humbled when God takes them in
hand and God himself instructs them and teaches them and shows
them the awful truth of their sinnership. And what is the sinner's
hope here? Well, two things I want to mention
as we come to a conclusion this morning. First of all, there
is the compassion of God. This is what gives the sinner
hope. God is a compassionate God. And we see this, do we not? Verse 22, It is of the Lord's
mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail
not. Again at verse 32, Though He
cause grief, yet will He have compassion. according to the
multitude of His mercies. And the word that's found in
these two verses, compassion and compassion, the same word,
and it literally means to be soft. To be soft. In other words, to be gentle. Oh friends, that's the character
of God, is it not? He is such a kind, such a compassionate
God. Remember that word that we have
at the end of the prophecy of Micah, there in Micah chapter
7, verse 18, Who is a God like unto thee, the pardon of 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 thou wilt
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. What a word! What a promise! And it's God's
holy promise. God is that one who is true to
that word, that gracious word. And there we have the fullness,
of course, of the revelation of that truth concerning the
character of God when we come to the ministry of the Lord Jesus
Christ, when we see God manifest in the flesh. What do we read
concerning Christ when he saw the miracles? He was moved with
compassion. He was moved with compassion.
How his heart goes out towards these multitudes of sinners who
wander as sheep without a shepherd. Or here, you see, is that that
brings hope into the soul of that man who is so aware of his
sin and the ill-deservings of his sin. There is a compassionate
Saviour, is there not? We have not an high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in
all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. What a
precious verse is that there in Hebrews 4. He's touched. That's
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. He's a real man, you see. and
he knows real human emotion and he feels for his fellow men he
feels for his people he is touched with the feeling of their infirmities
he was tempted he knew what sort of temptations were though himself
he was altogether without sin again Paul continues there in
Hebrews chapter 5 can have compassion on the ignorant
and are them that are out of the way because that he himself
is encompassed with infirmities he is speaking of the faithful
high priest is encompassed with infirmities not sinful infirmities
but real human infirmities because he is a real man and he can have
compassion upon his people and he does have compassion he feels
for them He ministers to them. And these compassions, you see,
they are never failing. Look at the words that we have
here in the 22nd verse. It's interesting because the
first three words of verse 22, you will observe, are in italics.
In other words, they're words that have been brought in They're
not a translation of any words that's there in the original.
They've been introduced in the translation to bring out the
sense. But then they do permit an alternative
reading. It is said that the word could
be read like this, the Lord's compassions or the Lord's mercies
are not consumed. because his compassions fail
not. We can have it rendered, you
see, in that sense as two parallel statements. The Lord's mercies
are not consumed because his compassions fail not. And then in verse 23, they are
new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. Here
is a God, you see, whose compassion never fails. From day to day,
from moment to moment he is that God who is merciful and gracious
in all his ways and in all his dealings with his people and
here I say is the sinner's hope when he considers something of
the character of his God this I recall to my mind therefore
have I hope His hope is in God. His hope is in the compassion
of God, in the mercy of God. And then also, his hope can rest
in this, the sovereignty of God. The sovereignty of God. Verse
37, Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord
commandeth it not? Who is he that saith, and it
cometh to pass? How proud men you see! They have
their devices, they make their plans, but God is able to frustrate,
because God's sovereignty is an absolute sovereignty. The
wise man tells us in Proverbs 19, there are many devices in
a man's heart, nevertheless the counsel of the Lord that shall
stand. or doubtless there were devices
in the heart of that proud Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar. Yes,
the city of Jerusalem had fallen and the people had been taken
into exile and the temple of the Lord had been destroyed.
But God's compassion failed on. There will yet be a restoration. Though God is there chastising
his people for their sins, there are some 70 years yet to be accomplished
and there will be a return. The great empire of the Babylonians
will fall. There will be another raised
up, even that man whom God himself has named Cyrus the Persian. who will issue his decree and
the people will be permitted to return again to Jerusalem
and rebuild the temple and rebuild the walls as it was in the days
of Ezra and Nehemiah. Why? Because God is sovereign. It's man who proposes, it's God
who disposes. Who is he that saith and he cometh
to pass when the Lord commandeth it not. And friends, our comfort
is this, that as God is a sovereign God, so the Word of God is a
sure Word. God's Word is a sure Word. Look
at verse 38, Out of the mouth of the Most High proceedeth not
evil and good. God never contradicts Himself.
what God says is true God 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 and
this you see is the comfort that God ministers to his people this
is that that gives them hope here is a God that they contrasting
or that God would come as it were and address us in that very
personal way one thinks of how God through his servant the prophet Nathan came to David
after David had sinned and sinned so grievously and was guilty
of the most gross iniquity he committed adultery he committed
murder and Nathan comes there in the
second book of Samuel chapter 12 and speaks to him faithful
words and then fingers his conscience as it were and says to him thou
art the man poor David thou art the man thou art the man and
here what does the prophet say I am the man all we got comes
and fingers us in and makes us to feel what we are as sinners
Though we be not guilty of the very sins that David committed
in the deed, doubtless none of us would plead to be altogether
free from that, of those sins, in the Spirit. Remember the teaching
of the Lord Jesus, the lustful look is adultery, the hateful
thought is murder, God comes and God says, Thou art the man. And how are we to respond when
God thus comes to us and speaks as he did to David through his
servant, Nathan? Well, here is the response. We're
to say, I am the man. I am the man. And how Jeremiah
was made to feel what he was as a sinner. He hath hedged me
about, that I cannot get out. He hath made my chain heaven.
Also when I cry and shout, He shutted out my prayer. He hath
enclosed my ways with hewn stone. He hath made my paths crooked. When I look to myself, everything
seems to be utterly hopeless. Surely there's no way of release,
no way of delivery. Verse 18, and I said, My strength
and my hope is perished from the Lord, 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 have I hope. Here is our hope, friends. when
we are delivered from all trust in ourselves and brought to that
spot where all our trust and all our confidence can only be
placed in the Lord. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed because His compassions fail not. I knew every morning great is
thy faithfulness. Oh, what comfort What hope there
is then when we see something of the character of God, compassionate,
merciful, faithful, sovereign in all His ways, true to all
His words. And to come to where we find Jeremiah here
in verse 24, he says, The Lord's is my portion, saith my soul. Therefore, will I hope in here. All the Lord bless, his word
to us.