Well, I want you to turn back
with me again to Lamentations chapter three. Lamentations chapter
three. And my text this morning is found
in verse 32. But though he cause grief, yet
will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.
And I've entitled this, Though He Cause Grief. Though He Cause
Grief. Do you know anything of conversion? And I'm speaking to people who
I take the majority to be those that would count themselves in
Christ. Do you know anything of conversion? Well, if you do,
it's not without the experience of conviction for sin. There's
no conversion without first a conviction for sin. Do you know anything
about the mercy of God? not without knowing something
of the misery of the sort of situation that Jeremiah found
himself in. Lamenting over the sins of his
people and the judgment of God on those sins. Do you know anything
about the grace of God? Not, I suggest, without knowing
something of grief. Though he caused grief, I first
came in contact with what I thought was Christian things in an Arminian
setting. And do you know the one thing
that was missing in the gospel that was proclaimed was the idea
of conviction of sin? of misery over sin, of grief
because of sin, there was no such thing, it just wasn't in
the message. It was just something that you just signed a card and
that made you a member of the club. There was no conviction
at all and therefore I believe in that situation, no conversion. We saw in Lamentations 3 the
first 17 verses what Jeremiah said about his experience, and
it was the experience of the people. Look at these 17 verses
with me again. I am the man that hath seen affliction
by the rod of his wrath, his, God's wrath. It's the rod of
God's wrath that has caused the affliction of the people. He
hath led me and brought me into darkness, but not into light,
but it was him, it was God that did it. Surely he is turned against
me. Surely he feels God is turned
against me. He turns his hand against me
all the day, just as Job knew the hand of God against him in
his affliction. My flesh and my skin hath he
made old. He hath broken." God has done
all of these things. You read down all of these verses.
Verse 8, when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer. He stopped listening to my prayers.
He's inclined my ways with hewn stone, enclosed my ways. He's
blocked my path. He's made my paths crooked. He's
like a bear lying in wait for me. These are all saying that
the cause of the grief that he's experiencing is God, what God
has done. Every verse is God's doing. And
it leads him to a situation of hopelessness. In verse 18, I
said, my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord. My strength and my hope is perished
from the Lord. But then he finds hope. And he
finds hope, as we saw last week, in what he recalled to mind in
verse 21. I recall to mind, therefore I
have hope. He recalled to mind the promises of God in his word. And in verses 21 to 26, that
well-known passage, we saw that the things that gave him hope
were the mercies of God. That God is a God of mercy, a
God of compassion, one who is faithful to all of his precepts
and to all of his purposes. He is the one who is the portion
of his people, the presence that his people experience. And he
is the one who is good in his salvation. He saves his people. I recall these to mind, therefore
I have hope. And he says in verse 26, it's
good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation
of the Lord. Wait for it. Quietly wait. Patience is needed. Wait for
the salvation of the Lord. But where do we wait? Look in
the next few verses, 27 to 31. It's in the dust of repentance
that we wait. It is good for a man that he
bear the yoke in his youth, the yoke of guilt. You read the accounts
of those in days gone by when there was nothing else to distract.
There was none of the glitter and the television and all of
the other media of this world to distract. And they were just
so conscious of the living God. Some were brought under great
conviction. They lived under a yoke of guilt.
It's good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth. to bear the
yoke of guilt for sin, to be made conscious of his sin. He
sitteth alone, verse 28, and keepeth silence because he hath
borne it upon him. That yoke of guilt for sin, he
sits alone and silently waits, verse 28. And verse 29, he puts
his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope. The mouth
that is so proud to speak great things. The mouth that is so
proud to sound off what it wants, he puts his mouth in the dust.
If so be, there may be hope." This is self-abasing. You know,
we read in Romans about every mouth, Romans 3, 19, that every
mouth may be stopped. and all the world become guilty
before God. This is the mouth that likes
to spout how good it is and brag of things, putting his mouth
in the dust, self-abasing, every mouth silenced. And verse 30,
giving his cheek to him that smiteth him. If this is the same
one that was doing all the smiting in the first seventeen verses,
this is giving his cheek to God to smite him. letting God be
just in his judgments, knowing that the judgment of God is perfectly
justified for his sin. He is filled full with reproach,
but here's an expectation, verse 31, in this dust of repentance,
here's an expectation, for the Lord will not cast off forever. He's waiting patiently in the
dust of repentance, but expecting a merciful end. This is the experience
of true conversion. There's a lot of false conversion
around. There's a lot of conversion that is a result of the social
club in which we are. It's good to go to church. The church is a good environment.
If the gospel is faithfully preached and there are others there who
are older in the faith who can encourage and teach the young,
that's a good thing. It's an excellent thing. It's
a great privilege to grow up in a Christian family where the
God of truth is believed and honored. It's a good thing to
get learning in a right sort of environment, but conversion
is not a result of churches as such, of families as such, of
seminaries. It's not something that is cultured
in those environments. I've seen in days gone by, I've
seen teenagers growing up in a church and it's all they've
ever known. And it's a nice, big, settled, comfortable, cosy
environment. And it's the sort of place you
would want them to be rather than going off and rioting with
the other youth of the day. And they have this nice, cosy,
well-behaved environment. And it's almost like conversion.
It's just like the rite of passage. It's just the rite of passage.
into this membership of a club. I remember one girl, sweet girl,
giving her testimony at her baptism at a large church. And I remember,
quite honestly, it just amounted to, well, it sort of seemed about
the right time to join the club that I've always been a member
of. That's not true conversion. True conversion is heaven sent.
True conversion comes when the Holy Spirit convicts and reproves
of sin. True conversion comes when the
Holy Spirit causes a man or a woman to mourn. Jesus said, blessed
are they that mourn, that they that mourn over their sin and
over their lost estate, over judgment to come, blessed are
they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. This is God's way. This is the way God works. Whether
we like it or not, it's the way God works. God is the God of
grace. but he causes his grace to shine
all the more brightly when experienced against the backdrop of grief
for sin. Oh, this is our prayer, isn't
it? That God, the Holy Spirit, would make some sinners amongst
us and around us. That God, the Holy Spirit, would
convict of sin. that he would do that. As the
hymn says, it's a sacred thing. A sinner is a sacred thing. The
Holy Ghost has made him so. Oh, that the Holy Spirit would
make some sinners amongst us and around us in this society,
in this culture in which we live in these days when Sin has been
done away with. There's no more sin in the conscience
of society around us. Oh, that God the Holy Spirit
would do that which He alone can do, that families and churches
and seminaries cannot do, that He alone can do to bring true
remorse, contrition for sin, conviction for sin. This is how
He works. Verse 32, He causes grief. He causes grief so that yet he
will have compassion. And that compassion is in accordance
with his manifold, his multitudinous mercies. Let's look at these
three statements. He causes grief. He causes grief. God. is good. God is love. God is all the things that religious
folks like to think. He is God who is love. But he causes grief. Though he
cause grief, You know, discipline is regarded as wrong in our day. It's one of those things that
has changed so dramatically in the last 40 years. Whereas, I
know there was all sorts of abuse, but on the whole, there was discipline. And discipline seems to have
gone out of the window in the society in which we live. Discipline
is regarded as wrong. The concept that used to be said,
I remember my granny saying it all the time, You have to be
cruel to be kind. Remember that? You know, some
of you will remember that. You have to be cruel. This society
in which we live despises the concept of being cruel to be
kind, yet it's a principle that's in scripture. You have to be
cruel. Sometimes discipline appears
cruel. It appears harsh. It appears
painful. It is painful. But it's objective
is kindness, to be kind. God causes grief to his children. God causes grief to his children. He causes grief to the chosen
objects of his love. You know that? This is what the
scripture teaches. God causes grief to the chosen objects of
his love. Because why? Because he intends
them nothing but eternal good. Proverbs chapter 3 verse 12 says
this, For whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth, even as a father
the son in whom he delighteth. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 6 echoes
that same verse, For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. And verse 11 of that same chapter
says this, Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be
joyous. You know, oh wow, I'm enjoying
those stripes on my back. No, no, but grievous, painful,
it hurts. It hurts, but its objective is
fatherly love for good which is intended. In Psalm 89, God
says this, that great Psalm showing so clearly Christ in his redeeming
purposes. And he talks of his people and
he says, if they break my statutes, they break my laws, I will visit
their transgression with the rod and with stripes, a cane. He says, I'm going to beat them
with a cane as my children. I'm going to punish them. Nevertheless,
my loving kindness will I not take from them. And my covenant
to save them, my deal to save them, I will not break. God doesn't
break his deals, his bargains. It's God's doing. Lamentations
chapter 3 verse 37. This is God's doing that he causes
grief. Who is he that saith, and it
cometh to pass when the Lord commandeth it not? It's God that
does. Even that which men and women
think that they decide for themselves. It is God that ordains and permits
and orders all things. Out of the mouth of the Most
High proceedeth not evil and good, those things that seem
to be evil As well as those things that seem to be good, a great
big destroying typhoon in the Philippines, it's all of God's
hands. It's all of His doing. All of
it is in His purposes. Out of the mouth of the Most
High proceedeth not evil and good. I forget where it is, but
there's somewhere else says, is there evil in the streets?
And the Lord has not done it. Not that He's the author of sin,
but all things are in His sovereign power and purpose. Wherefore
verse 39 doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his
sins. He's talking about a living man Complaining the living man
is the man who is living as one who has the Spirit of God He's
he's a spiritually living man. How does it wherefore does he
cause a spiritually living man to complain? What does a living
man complain of he complains of his sins? He complains that
he has sin and he doesn't want sins if he's a living man He
complains that he's a wretched man. Romans 7, 24, a wretched
man that I am in this flesh. He complains, the living man,
the spiritually living man, complains of his lack of communion with
God. And this is the Holy Spirit's doing. He, John 16, verse 8,
talks about the Holy Spirit. Jesus says when he comes, when
he has come, he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment. verse 42 there's this admission
that yes we have sinned and actually in truth We have got a lot less
than our sins deserve. We have transgressed and have
rebelled. Thou has not pardoned. Thou has
covered with anger and persecuted us. Thou has slain and Thou has
not pitied. He causes grief. He gives no
relief in prayer, it seems, for a while, verse 44. He causes
grief before conversion. He also causes grief as long
as we're in this flesh, as his children, with sin. in the flesh,
striving against the spirit. Thomas Bradbury wrote this some
years ago. He said, when sin is not felt
and hated, salvation will never be enjoyed. Think about it. Where sin is not felt and hated,
salvation truly will never be enjoyed. Where wrath of judgment
has not been dreaded, the love of God will not truly be experienced. The heart that is a stranger
to misery must be a foreigner to mercy. What is God's objective
in bringing this grief? Though he caused grief, what
is his objective? Look at verse 33. For he doth
not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men, to crush
under his feet all the prisoners of the earth, to turn aside the
right of a man before the face of the Most High, to subvert
a man in his cause the Lord approveth not. What is God's objective?
not to afflict it says willingly now you may say doesn't God do
all of his holy will if he wills it then surely he intends it
why does he do something not well I think what it means is
this he doesn't afflict for the sake of affliction itself he
doesn't afflict with that as the end objective that you be
afflicted Sin is and will be punished for the sake of divine
justice, but for his people, the objects of his love, he afflicts
for their eternal good. He causes all things. Romans
8, 28. Causes all things. All things.
Oh, apart from, no, it doesn't say that. All things to work
together for good to those that love God. Why do they love God? Because they're the called according
to his purpose, which cannot be thwarted. It's all for their
eternal good. Yes, he'll punish sin for its
own sake, for the sake of divine justice, but for his people,
he afflicts for their eternal good. Someone else wrote, he
brings a cloud of affliction that in time we may see a rainbow
of grace. You know when that big black
cloud comes and the thunderstorm flashes and then the sun comes
out and you see the rainbow. He brings a cloud of affliction
that in time we may see a rainbow of grace. This is how God reveals
that he deals with his people, with his children. This is such
a contrast to the health, wealth and happiness error that is preached
so much around us in these days. This is the way God deals with
his people for their eternal good, for his eternal glory.
So though he caused grief Though he cause grief, you talk to many
who call themselves Christians and they wouldn't believe for
one moment that God would cause them grief. God wants you to
be happy, he wants you to be healthy, he wants you to be wealthy.
The only thing that's stopping it is your lack of faith. No,
though the Lord cause grief, though he cause grief, he does
it. God causes grief, let's be in
no doubt, yet will he have compassion? Yet will He have compassion.
He causes grief. Oh yes, He causes grief in judgment.
Not all grief will be repented of. Not all grief will. If we
read in Revelation 16 and verse 9, We read this about judgments
to come and men were scorched with great heat and blasphemed
the name of God which hath power over these plagues. They blasphemed
the name of the one who alone has power over these plagues
and they repented not to give him the glory, many will be left
bearing judgment for their own sins. Many will be left bearing
the grief that comes as a result of judgment for sin. And he would
have been just to leave all without exception, including us. He would
have been just to leave all without exception, but for this fact,
but for this fact, Christ came. and bore the judgment of his
people in their place. And because he's done that, because
Christ has come, because Christ has come as the surety, as the
substitute for his people, because Christ has borne the sin of his
people, been made the sin of his people on the cross of Calvary,
because he has shed his precious blood for the price of the sins
of those people, that that price must be paid. Because of that,
God would be unjust if he didn't have compassion on his people.
He must have compassion. Though he cause grief, he must
have compassion on his people. What is compassion? What is compassion? Co-passion, compassion, empathetic
love. Passion is love. He has empathetic,
sympathetic love. It's displayed and it's expressed
in the gospel of his grace. Turn to Ephesians. I know we
often turn to Ephesians, but for condensed truth, for condensed capturing of the essence of what
I'm trying to say and what the scriptures say, there are a few
places that are better. And I know you know these verses
well, but let's read them again. He displays his compassion, his
empathetic love. Though he cause grief, yet will
he have compassion. Listen to how he has compassion.
Blessed, verse three, blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. to the
praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted
in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of sins, redemption, the price is paid according to
the riches of His grace. wherein he hath abounded toward
us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery
of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath
purposed in himself. Can you see it? Can you feel
it? Though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion, that
in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together
in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and
which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we have obtained
an inheritance. being predestinated, according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his will, that we should be to the praise of the glory of
his glory, who first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted,
etc., etc. You see, it shows there the electing
love of God the Father. Yet will he have compassion.
The redeeming grace of God the Son. The effectual call of God
the Holy Spirit. Though he cause grief, yet will
he have compassion. And he has compassion. Hebrews
4.15, our high priest is one who is touched because he became
man, because he walked in the flesh, because he knows what
it is to be a man in flesh and blood. Our high priest, our great
high priest is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. It's
co-passion, compassion, empathetic love. He plucks the objects of
his love out of the fire of his judgment, as Amos says, and as
Ephesians 2 says, you he has quickened who were dead in trespasses
and sins wherein in time past you 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 time past in
the lusts of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind and were by nature children of wrath in the flesh
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, and raised us up, though
he cause grief. Yet will he have compassion.
He has compassion on the objects of his love. The Psalms tell
us this, Psalm 86, verse 15. But thou, O Lord, art a God full
of compassion. He's a God full of compassion.
Yes, He's a God of wrath over sin, but He's a God full of compassion,
and gracious, and long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. These things I recall to mind,
therefore I have hope. He's a God full of compassion.
His grace drives his compassion. The purpose of God, according
to election, drives his compassion on the people who are the objects
of his love. In 2 Chronicles 36 and verse
15 we read, and the Lord God sent unto them his people. He
sent unto them messengers. Why? It tells us why. Because
he had compassion on the people. He sent messengers. Though he
caused grief, yet will he have compassion. He sends his messengers
because he has compassion. He sends his messengers with
a message. He sends Christ as the supreme
messenger of the covenant of grace to redeem his people. He
sent him as the messenger of the covenant. And we have his
words and his teaching and everything that he said. We have the apostles
doctrine that comes from it. He sent his preachers as messengers
to proclaim comfort. Isaiah 40 verses 1 and 2, Comfort
ye, speaking to preachers, to prophets, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people. He sends his preachers, his messengers,
because he has compassion on his people. He sends the spirit
of truth. John 16, as we read before, to
convict, to convict of sin and of judgment to come. He sends
His Spirit, His messenger. To give this message, he has
compassion. He has compassion. He is a God
who is merciful, who has compassion. Though he cause grief for sin,
yet will he have compassion. And he brings us to that point.
He brings his people to that point, to know this. Each of
them is brought to know this. Those words of that hymn that
is so well known to us, my sin. Oh, the bliss of this glorious
thought, my sin not in part, but the whole is nailed to his
cross. He sends messengers with that
message of what Christ has done in having compassion on his people. Though he caused grief for sin,
he has compassion. He has compassion. And why does
he have compassion? Well, the last part of the verse
tells us. It's according to the multitude of his mercies. according
to the multitude of his mercies. Why does God, the God of the
universe, the unchangeable God, the God who is holy, the God
who dwells in unapproachable light, the God who is higher
than all of our thoughts and ways, he's a purer eyes than
to look on sin. He would be just to have nothing
to do with sin but to condemn it. Why does God have compassion
on sinners? He causes grief, yet will he
have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.
The angels desire to look into this, Peter tells us. The angels
desire to look into why does God have compassion on sinners? Well, The verse tells us it's
according to the multitude of his mercies. According to. According
to. Those words, I looked them up.
According to. References. It occurs often in
the scriptures. According to. because he purposed
it in eternity. Why does he do it? Because he
purposed it this way in eternity. And if God has decreed it, nothing
can change it. Again, stay in Ephesians if you're
still there. Verse 11, in whom also we have
obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the
purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will. According to according to the
multitude of his mercies. He's predestinated his people
He's predestinated them to according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things After the council of his own will if it's his will
to do it He will do it look at verses 3 & 4 of Ephesians 1 blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who have blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love according as he hath chosen him spiritual blessings
according to according to his choice of his people. Why does
he cause grief? Because he intends to have compassion. Why does he do that? Because
of the multitude of his mercies, according to, according to his
eternal purposes of grace. verses 6 and 7 of Ephesians 1,
to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted in the beloved, in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of his grace. according to, because of His
eternal purpose, because of His multitude of mercies, we have
redemption and forgiveness. He's made us accepted in the
Beloved according to the riches of His grace, in accordance with,
in proportion to the riches of His grace. He's given us redemption. and forgiveness. There's one
over in Philippians chapter 4 verse 19, you don't need to turn to
it, where Paul there says, my God shall supply all your need
according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Why does he
have mercy? It's according to his nature,
it's according to his eternal purposes of grace. My God shall
supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ
Jesus. Grace to help. Ephesians 4 and
verse 7. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse
7. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the
measure of the gift of Christ. According to the measure of the
gift of Christ. Grace to help in time of need. Divine providence
in every step of life as we've already mentioned this morning.
All things work together for good to them that love God. To
them who are the called How are they called? According to His
purpose. He will have compassion according
to the multitude of His mercies. God is a God who delights in
mercy, says Micah, chapter 7, verse 18. A God who delights. Yes, He's just. Yes, He must
punish sin. He can in no wise clear the guilty.
He can in no wise just say, oh, it doesn't matter. but he's a
God who delights in mercy. He causes grief, yet will he
have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.
He must be just. He causes grief for sin eternally
to those outside of Christ. That's serious. Hear me, he causes
grief for sin eternally for those outside of Christ. But for those
he purposed to save from sin, from before the beginning of
time, he causes grief as chastisement, that he may yet have compassion
according to his unchangeable purposes of grace, according
to his mercy, his multitude of mercy. Someone else wrote this,
I'll finish with this. Felt misery for sins we have
committed, felt misery for sins we have committed, is a hopeful
sign that the mercy which God predestinated is near. Think
of it. Have you ever felt misery for
sins that you've committed? Have you ever felt misery for
the fact that you're a sinner who must meet a holy God who
must judge and condemn? Well, that felt misery for sin
is a rare thing. And it's a hopeful sign that
the mercy which God has predestinated in his electing purposes is near.