Take your Bibles and turn with
me to Lamentation. Lamentation, Chapter 3. Lamentation, Chapter 3. Apologize for the tardiness,
but the Lord doth hinder. text we found in verse 39. I've entitled this message, A
Question for the Living Man. A Question for the Living Man. The scripture here says in Lamentation
3 and verse 39, Wherefore doth the living man complain? A man for the punishment of his
sin. Let us search and try our ways
and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with
our hands unto God in the heavens. Now this passage of scripture
was written by Jeremiah the prophet. By Jeremiah the prophet, as he
was commanded of God to preach a very unpopular message to the
people of his day. It was a message of God judgment,
coming judgment. A message of repentance toward
God. And this is his lamentation.
Now I want to, an old preacher used to say this and it was a
good thing for me is, tell them what you're going to tell them,
tell them, and then tell them what you told them. That's what
I want to do. I want to give my outline up
front for you The first thing I want you to see is Christ. Every time I come to the Scriptures,
I want you to see Christ. This prophecy here given by Jeremiah
is nothing more than a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ and
his sufferings. Then I'm going to ask you three
questions concerning a living man. Those who are believers
in Jesus Christ, you who are quickened by the Spirit of God,
redeemed by the blood of Christ, this question in our text is
for you. Wherefore doth the living man
complain? And then I want us to see lastly
the remedy of complaint which is mentioned in verses 40 and
41. Searching, searching and trying
our ways and then turning to the Lord and lifting up our heart
in prayer and praise. So that's my outline. First of all, I want you to see
this as it is written, a prophecy of Jeremiah, as he's preaching
to his brothers. He's preaching a message of God's
judgment and punishment, a message of repentance. And what was his
reward? What was the reward of Jeremiah?
It was not what you think. You would expect this was a good
message, a needful message. And yet they rewarded him by
throwing him into a dungeon, into a pit, and covering him
over with a stone. If you look in
verse 52 of this chapter, you see that. Verse 52, mine enemies
have chased me like a bird without cause. They have cut off my life
in the dungeon and cast a stone upon it. Jeremiah is lamenting,
he's weeping there. The prophet of God stood in the
mire and the dung for days on end. Even though he had done
no evil, his enemies persecuted him. Yet the prophet understood
something that every child of God should understand concerning
suffering. Suffering is of the hand of God. Look at the verse one, how Jeremiah
describes his suffering. He says, I am a man that has
seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. He hath led me and
brought me into darkness and not into light. Surely against
me hath he turned. He turneth his hand against me
all the day. You see, Jeremiah here recognizes that his suffering
is by the hand He said, God had turned His wrath on me. God had
led me into darkness and night. God had turned against me all
the day. You go on and read this. He says, God had set His arrow,
bent His bow and set His knee as the target of His arrow. God
had done this. And so, believer in our suffering,
isn't this what we should do is recognize that our afflictions
are by the hand of God. If you were to go to Job chapter
19, listen to what Job said about his afflictions. He said, the
hand of God hath touched me. We know this, that all of our
sorrows and sufferings are purposed of God. Now why? Are they purposed
for our destruction? No. They're only purposed for
our good. But as I look at this chapter,
I don't want to see Jeremiah here. I want to see what God,
the Holy Spirit, has really intended for us to see, and that is Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. This is what the Holy Spirit
intends to show us a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold,
look at verse 1. He says, I am a man that has
seen affliction by the rod of His wrath. You see, only Jesus
Christ has seen the rod of God's wrath. Jeremiah suffered in the
flesh, but I tell you this, he did not see the wrath of God.
Only Jesus Christ suffered the wrath of God. Zechariah chapter
13 says, Awake, O sword, and smite my shepherd against the
man that is my fellow. Jesus Christ alone suffered the
wrath of God on Calvary's tree. Look there. By faith's eye, look
now and see him as he suffered as the sinners substitute. Paul
said, for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin. that we should be made the righteousness
of God in Him. You see, He was made to bear
the sins of His people alone. Imagine the billions of sins. Can you imagine all of the sin
He had to bear? The vile corruption of our nature
as God made it to rest upon Him? God hath brought him into darkness.
Look at that, verse two, led me and brought me into darkness.
Who was brought into darkness? Christ was. Against me hath he
turned. He turneth his hand against me
all the day. My flesh and skin hath he made old, hath he broken
my bones. He built it against me, encompassed
me with gall and travail. You go on through this chapter
and you read nothing but the misery and suffering of our Lord
Jesus Christ. You see the wrath of God, the
arrow of God's wrath was bent toward him and the fires of hell
burned in his soul. The wormwood of our sin and the
gall of our sin, he was made to drink. You remember that brook,
I believe it's in Psalm 110, it says, he shall drink of the
brook in the way. That brook has reference to that
brook Kittron, which David crossed over. Now, brook Kittron was
not a brook of sparkling water. It was the sewer pipe from which
the sacrifices, the blood and the dung came down the brook
Kittron. And the scripture says, he shall
drink of that brook in the way. What is that? That is our sin.
He drank our sin. He drank it dry. And he by himself suffered the
wrath of God, and by his death he had purged our sins, washed
our sins, redeemed all those that the Father had given him. So look now, believer, at all
the Lord and His sufferings. In chapter 1 of this same book,
he says in verse 12, ìIs it nothing to you? Is it nothing to you
as we pass by this morning and we see our crucified Savior,
I'm going to ask you this, is it nothing to you? All you who pass by, is it nothing
to you to see Him who was afflicted? He said there, is there any sorrow
like unto my sorrow? Can you think Jeremiah could
compare his sorrow to the sorrow of the suffering Christ? Can
you compare your suffering to his suffering? Is there any sorrow
like unto my sorrow? No, there is not. You look at
that great eternal suffering of the wicked sinner in hell,
and you pay attention, he is only suffering for his sin. One
man will suffer for his sin for eternity, but Christ suffered
for all of the sins of his people. All of them. And so great was
His sacrifice. So great was His deity. So great
was His strength. And what a man could not do in
eternity, He did in three hours. In three hours of suffering,
my Savior He satisfied God by his one offering. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and be satisfied. Now you listen, I'm not going
to be saved by my suffering. I'm gonna be saved by his suffering,
by his suffering. Scripture says he hath perfected
forever Them that are sanctified. That's what happened in Calvary.
That's what our text is talking about. It's talking about the
suffering of Christ. He is the one that's seen the
wrath of God and was afflicted of God. Now see then, because
of this, there is hope. Verse 22 in our text, chapter
3. Look at this. Because of his suffering, what?
It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. because
his compassion faileth not. Behold, we all are by nature
sinners. We are depraved, dead, deserving
of God's wrath and justice. Yet, what was it that caused
Christ to suffer in our sin? It was the mercy of God. Why
are you, believer, not consumed? Why is it that you will be accepted
and not consumed? because of the mercies of God.
Because of His mercies we are not consumed. Have you considered this? When
the angels sinned, immediately they were in chains
of darkness. Immediately they were reserved
for damnation with no hope. Why? They were given no mercy.
No mercy. But now you look at the garden.
When Adam failed, he was not immediately consumed. He was
not immediately arrested with chains of darkness, reserved
for hell. No, he died spiritually, yes.
Brought all of his posterity into death from birth. We were
born dead in trespasses and sin because of our father, Adam.
Why was he not like the angels that had failed? Because of the
mercies of God, he was not consumed. In fact, God sought him out and
gave him a message of hope, the message of Christ. What was his
first message? The first message ever preached,
the seed of the woman shall crush the head of the serpent. That's
what I've been telling you about. When he was on Calvary's tree,
what was he doing? He was crushing the head of the serpent, fulfilling
the gospel. He gave him a message of salvation
by a substitute. God declares Christ, the seed
of the woman, should reconcile us to God and praise God for
his grace that God had not chosen a people. Had God not purposed
to save, surely Adam would have been consumed and all of us with
him. Yet God purposed to save some. God purposed to save some
of Adam's race and gave them to Christ. In a covenant of grace,
He gave them to Christ, and Christ at Calvary accomplished their
redemption, fulfilled the covenant of grace. And in the process
of time, the Spirit of God will come to each one of them, and
He will quicken them. He will give them life. That's
what Jesus said. You must be born again. You must be born from above. Salvation is not by something
you do. It is something God does for
you. He gives you life. He quickens you. No man can come
unto me. That's how bad we are. No man
can come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him. That's the only way. So God, who is rich in love,
joined us to Christ, and Christ, who is rich in love, redeemed
us, and because of his love, he quickens us. Are you born
again? Do you believe? Now, the evidence
of the birth is faith. Faith in Christ is the breath
of spiritual life. Do you believe on the Son of
God alone? Do you trust His death as all
your acceptance with God? Let me tell you this, you are
a living man. And that's what I want to talk
about now, the questions to the living man. I've showed you Christ.
If you do not believe in Christ, I tell you this, believe And those that believe are living.
We have a life. And so then the question, read
the question with me then. This is talking to the living
man. He says this, so then why doth the living man complain? The question comes to the living
man. If you are saved, listen, if
you have been saved by the blood of Christ, If you have been chosen
by God the Father and redeemed by Christ, if you have been quickened
by the Spirit of God, what in the world do you have to complain
about? To the man who's quickened, why
does the living man complain? We who are believers in Christ
and made sons of God, heirs of heaven, partakers of the divine
nature. We are the elect of God, the
redeemed of Christ, and precious in His sight. Don't you know
you're precious? And yet why then are we so full
of complaints? So often we make plans, we scheme,
we labor, and yet our labor, our plans lay in ashes at our
feet, our dreams are often dashed against the rocks by God's providence. How often do our plans intersect
with the providence of God and He runs over you? That happens often. Very often. As a matter of fact, Solomon said, if God had made something crooked,
how can you straighten it? In other words, what appears
to you to be crooked? God's providence appears crooked.
It's not. You're crooked. He's straight. So often we are complaining about
our providence, like Israel. You remember Israel, they had
just been redeemed. God had just saved them since
those 10 plagues. And that last one, He redeemed
them by that Passover lamb. And by a mighty hand, He took
them out of Egypt. And there they were, right at
the brink of the Red Sea. And all of a sudden, trouble
come. Pharaoh was running right behind them. Mountains to the
right, deserts to the left, the sea in front of them. They were
in distress. They were in a tight spot. And what the first thing they
did when they were in a tight spot, they complained. What the God, you just left us
in Egypt to die. Why are you gonna bring us out
here and kill us? Is that not a mirror into our
own hearts? You bet it's a mirror into mine,
often. so often prone to murmur against
God. What was God's word then to Moses? Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. Are you perplexed? You just can't
figure this thing out. God says it's gonna work together
for my good. I don't see how that's possible. Watch this. That's what God said,
wait. And you know what? God of necessity
must bind you in a position so you'll wait, otherwise you wouldn't
wait. He traps us in, so we're forced to wait and see. Are you in distress? And this
question is to us. Dost thou believe on the Son
of God? Is His Word sufficient to save
you? Is God not satisfied with His
offering? That's what you're really asking.
When you're murmuring and complaining, you think God's doing you wrong,
you're complaining against the sacrifice of Christ. You think
there's something wrong with His offering. And so why do we complain? Stand
still, look at verse 24 of your text. Look at verse 24. The Lord
is my portion, saith my soul. Therefore will I hope in Him.
The Lord is good unto them that, what? Wait for Him. Wait for Him. to the soul that
seeketh Him. It is good that a man both hope
and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. It is good that
we wait. Instead of complain, what we
should do? Wait. In faith, looking to Christ,
just wait. Remember, Who is the one that
put you in your current situation? You? I'm sure your sin had its
part, but know this, God did it. God did it. If God is our portion, then what
are we complaining about? We should quietly wait. Let me ask you this, believer,
have you lost anything? We do lose things. We lose houses.
Believers have lost houses and families and lands, friends. Oh my. Preach this word to people
that you know and you might not have any friends. But really, if you've lost even
your life, what have you lost? What have you lost? If you die
in your situation, what have you lost? Nothing. For me to live is Christ and
to die is what? Gain. Lost nothing. We've lost nothing. Our Lord,
we're not deceived about this, are we? Because our Lord told
us this. He said, Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not
all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. You're his disciple.
Then you've already forsaken everything. You've forsaken your
self-righteousness. You've forsaken your false religion.
You've forsaken the false Christ of this world. And so what is it then to forsake
the things of this world? It's nothing. They're nothing. Christ is all. Christ is all. Surely if we have Christ, we
have everything. Our Lord told us that and said,
which of you thinking that you've lost anything is not going to
be restored? And I think it's in Mark chapter
10, our Lord said, which of you left a house or home or brother
and sister is not gonna be restored tenfold? And listen to this,
eternal life. Eternal life. Seeing that if
God has given us the greatest gift, which is His Son, the suffering
of His Savior, to accomplish our salvation, and seeing He
has given us His Holy Ghost and sealed us with His seal, how
then shall we complain? How can we think so little of
God's goodness and love to complain of His providence? Simply put, to complain of our
law is nothing short of unbelief in the promises of God. So let me ask you this, you who
are living men, why do you complain? Seeing the Lord is your portion,
seeing that Christ has already paid your debt, seeing that you
are accepted of God, heirs of eternal life, what then should
you complain about? Nothing. Secondly, if we are
living and God is sovereign, what do we complain about? If
God is sovereign, why does the living man complain? Remember
living man, that all that happens to us in time and eternity is
according to the sovereign will of God. Go over a couple of pages
there to Isaiah 46. Back a couple of pages, Isaiah
46. Hear this, oh living man. Verse nine of Isaiah 46, remember
the former things of old. For I am God and there is none
else. I am God and there is none like
me. What separates God from all other
gods? One thing, sovereignty. Sovereignty. Listen to this, declaring the
end from the beginning, from ancient times of things that
are not yet done, saying that my counsel shall stand and I
will do all my pleasure. Our brother Don Fortner said
this, and this is right. There is absolutely no difference
between the denial of God's sovereignty and the denial of God's being. There's no difference between
denying God's sovereignty and atheism. No difference. We who are living, this is one
thing we know, God is sovereign. How do we know that? I was dead
and now I'm alive. I know that my salvation is completely
and absolutely the work of God alone. We neither sought God nor came
to Christ except He drew us. Why then do we suppose, why do
we suppose God is sovereign in our salvation and yet somehow
in our circumstances He is not? Isn't this why we're complaining?
Because of our lot. We're complaining because of
our lot. If we do this, we are denying the sovereignty of God
in our lot. Why did the living man complain?
God is sovereign. God is sovereign. There's no
mistakes with God. He is now at this moment moving
all things exactly according to His own sovereign will. Even the dark providences we
face in this life. Every dark providence. O living
man, God is sovereign and He will always do his will. Now here's one thing you can
count on. You can count on this. God will always do his will. Now then I got a question for
you. What is that? What is the will of God concerning
me? Concerning you who are living
men? Go to Jeremiah chapter 32. Jeremiah
chapter 32. See the will of God. Back a few pages, Jeremiah 32.
Look at verse 38. This is God's covenant. This
is God's covenant. He says this in verse 38, Jeremiah
32, verse 38, and they shall be my people and I will be their
God. Any chance of that not happening? No, God said they. shall be my
people, I will be their God, my sovereign. He said, I will
give them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever.
Now this is the reason he was gonna do this, for the good of
them, for the good of them and for their children. And I will
make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn
away from them to do them good. but I will put my fear in their
hearts and they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice
over them to do them good. I will plant them in this land
assuredly with my whole heart and my whole soul." Don't you
know this? God's whole heart, God's whole
soul is engaged in this covenant to do you good. Now why would
he do you good? Scott, can you answer that why
he would do you good? Is there any reason in you that
He would do you good? No, not one. He will do me good
simply because this. He will do me good. Because of His grace, He will
do me good. I deserve no good. But because of Christ, I deserve
all good. Because He put us in Christ.
This is His heart. So what is your lot, you living
man, that you complain so much of? What is your lot? What is your lot? Is it good or evil? Did God intend
to destroy you? or do you good? Scripture says
he's going to do you good. I got this in my office. It's
good for you to, I read this quite often. I need constantly to remind myself
that all things are of God. Let me not preach sovereignty
and then complain of my lot in life. Let me not talk of divine
purpose and then spend my days murmuring about my trials and
troubles. It is totally inconsistent with
faith in a sovereign Christ for me to question His good providence. Totally inconsistent. Why then does the living man
complain? He is not God's sovereign. And the last thing, last question
is this. Why does the living man complain when he is chastened
of God? Look back at your text. Look
at this again. Why does the living man complain
a man for the punishment of his sins? Let me tell you what this
is not saying. It's not saying that a living
man shall be punished under the wrath of God for his sins. That's
not what's happening. We know that because Christ has
already paid for our sins. Christ is already punished for
our sins. Paul said that he had purged
us, past tense, purged us from our sins and sat down. When you sat down, what do you
do? You're finished. The work's done. Paul says in
Hebrews 9, he says, now once at the end of the world hath
he put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Jeremiah chapter
15 verse 20 says, the sins of Israel shall be sought for and
there shall be none. Why? Christ has already paid
for your sins. Augustus Topley wrote this. He
said, from whence this fear and unbelief? Hath not the Father
put to grief his spotless Son for me? And will the righteous
judge of men condemn me for the debt of sin which the Lord hath
charged to thee? Complete atonement thou hast
made, and the utmost farthing paid, what error thy people owed. Payment God cannot twice demand,
first at my surety's hand, and then again at mine. God will
never punish you for your sins. That's not what the text is saying.
What this punishment for sin is, it's talking about the living
man being chastened of God. When you are chastened because
of your sin, why do you complain? Does that make any sense to you?
If we sin and God chastens us, why then complain? Is it not necessary that your
father chasten you? What does the scripture say?
If you be without chastisement, then are you bastards and not
sons. The chastening of the father
is necessary. We who are living men, we know
this. We are so foolish and weak. We
are often prone to sleep, to be cold in heart, indifferent
to the things of God. Our heart is prone to coldness
and hardness. Our prayer and study become a
burden. Our afflictions, our affections
become cold. What good must God do? He must
then chasten us. He must chasten us. You remember old Pilgrim and
Pilgrim's Progress. If you've not read Pilgrim's Progress, you
should read it. It is a great, great allegory.
Pilgrim was on the way, he was on the path. And you remember,
he fell asleep in the way. He fell asleep, he went, he saw
this path over here, it was a lot smoother, and he went that way,
and he fell asleep. And you remember, he got into
Doubting Castle. Doubting Castle, a giant of despair. How often has God's people been
there? So prone to wander, Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God. And what did God do? God chastened
him. He felt the guilt within himself
that it was his fault he was there. And yet what did God do
when he caused this fear and guilt to fall on him? He caused
him to remember he had the key. Look, man, living man, you have
the key. The promises of God are the key
out of the castle of despair. But God leads us into the castle
of despair so that we should remember him, that we should
fear him, that we should love him and reverence him. He chastens
us. But you remember that other man
in Pilgrim's Progress? Ignorance. Ignorance, he had
a smooth way all the way. No chastening there. No feeling
of guilt. He was very presumptuous all
the way, even to the river of death. He came to Jordan, and
you remember he paid the boatman to go across. What was his end? His end was being cast out. Why? He was not a son. He was not
a son. This is why Paul says in Hebrews
12, my son, despise thou not the chastening of the Lord. when
you are chastened of Him, nor faint when you are rebuked of
Him. For whom the Lord loveth... What does He do? He chastens
them and scourges every son He receiveth. Wherefore, O living
man, when you are chastened of the Lord... Why complain? Why complain? Let us not complain
and murmur of our chastening. It is good. Is it not? You are chastened. Do you not
need it? If we're living men, we know
we do. And we know this, that the hand of our Father that chastens
us is a loving hand. Loving hand. Why complain? Why
complain? And the last thing is this. What
is the remedy? What is the remedy? Look at this
in verse 40. Let us search and try our ways
and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with
our hands unto God in heaven. The first thing here is searching.
Searching. John Gill said this, instead
of murmuring and complaining, let us search for those things
that support, comfort, teach, and instruct under an afflictive
providence. Let us search for those things
that are comforting. Search for those things that
are sure. Search for those things that are where? In the Word of
God. Where do you begin your search?
Right here. Right here. Are you complaining? and search. Search what? Search
out the love of God. Can you find an end to that?
If you study the love of God, you think you can find an end.
There is no end. Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love. Isn't that the most astounding
thing in the world? That God loves me. There's never been a time God
has not loved me. In eternity, He loved me. At
Calvary, He manifested His love for me. In regeneration, I experienced
the love of God that He had for me. And even now, in my murmuring,
in my complaining, in my dark providence, He still loves me.
There's a remedy for complaining, isn't there? The love of God.
Isn't the death of Christ something you could search out? Can you not see the vastness
and the greatness of His blood and righteousness? Do you not
know this whole book is about Him being crucified? I can go
back to each one of the Old Testament sacrifices and I could point
you to Christ. You can search this from now
until the end and never find a bottom to His infinite sacrifice. His perfect offering for sin,
His perfect righteousness that robed me, His blood that cleanseth
me. I like that word cleanseth because
it's a never-ending perpetual cleansing. I am constantly cleansed. How about searching out His forgiveness,
His pardon? His deity, His person, His holiness. These are things that are remedies
to complaining. If we know Him and we know His
offering and His love, what do we have to complain about? What's that hymn about? The things
of earth grow strangely dim. in the light of His glory and
grace. And you can also search this. Search your ways. Are you
in the way? Remember, there's only one way. Jesus said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man comes to God but by me.
Are you in the way? Make your calling and election
sure. And if this is done, where's
murmuring? Where's complaining? If you're
in the way, where's the complaining? Search these things and return
unto Him. How do we return to Him? The same way you came to
begin with, by faith, by faith. Always constantly looking to
Christ. And the last thing is this, prayer
and praise. Look at this in verse 21. The Lord, I'm sorry, let us lift
up our heart with our hands under God in the heavens. What is this
but absolute surrender to God? That's a remedy for complaining,
isn't it? Absolute surrender. Thy, as our brother just read
the prayer, thy will be done. Where? On earth as it is So that in closing, I'll just
tell you what I told you. Why did the living man complain?
Seeing Christ has offered himself once unto God for our sins, having
put away our sins and quickened us, we are living men, quickened
by the Spirit of God. And if you are quickened, what
do you complain about seeing that you have been quickened?
You have been chosen. You have been redeemed. You're
precious in His sight. The Lord is your portion. Why
complain? Why complain about your providence
when God is sovereign over all your providences? Why then complain when you are
chastened of Him? What's the remedy? Search Him. In His words, search Him out.
Find Him. And seeing Him, Can you be thankful and complain
at the same time? Is that possible? We do it. We try to. It's like
one of those Southern things, bless your heart. That's not
what we mean, but. Oh God, thank you, but man, I
wish you'd. No, you can't do that. You're
either thankful or you're complaining. If we see Christ, we'll just
be thankful.