Well, I want you to turn with
me to the book of Lamentations this morning, and I want to look
at this verse 12. Is it nothing to you, all ye
that pass by? Behold, and see if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me, wherewith the
Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. We're
remembering at the end of this service this morning the communion
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the breaking of bread, and the drinking,
the sharing, of wine, symbolical of the body and blood which was
broken, the body which was prepared which must be broken for the
sins of his people to be redeemed. How do we interpret scripture?
Scripture is unique. There's no other piece of literature
like it, ever has been. It's absolutely unique. This
is heavenly, eternal literature. This is something which is rooted
and grounded in eternity. Yet it's full of historical truth.
I believe that all of the accounts, apart from those that are obviously
allegorical pictures, all of them are historically true. They
all have their basis in things that actually happen. So I believe,
literally, in an arc and a flood and all of those things as historical
events. And I believe that Jerusalem
and Judah going into captivity because of her sins as God had
warned is historical fact. You can go to the British Museum
and you can see lots of evidence that's been found archaeologically
of these things. Undoubtedly scripture gives us historical
truth. And it also gives us things with
which we can identify personally. How many people, how many of
God's saints in anguish have read the Psalms and have identified
with the Psalmist? You know, going through difficult
times, have identified with the Psalmist, and that's right, and
that's proper, and that's good. Personal identification. We can
identify with it. As believing people, we can identify
with the things that are written in God's Word as relevant to
our own experience. but of course above all these
things. Towering as a mighty pinnacle, a mighty summit above
all of these things is that they speak of Christ. All of them
speak of Christ. There are those that would say
in taking the approach that I seek to do week by week to the scriptures
and to this scripture this morning, oh, it's over spiritualizing
it. You're twisting it to get a spiritual
message out of something that actually, you know, you're straining
the language, you're doing violence to the textual context. No. We have scriptural, divine
authority. to take all of these things as
supremely, sublimely speaking of Christ. These are they which
speak of Him. What did Paul say? We were looking
at it a few moments ago in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. I determine to know
nothing other than Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is it.
How are you going to interpret this scripture? Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. He must be in there. Just like
every village in England has a road that leads to London.
I told you about Hutton Roof, near where I grew up. Tiny little
hamlet, about two farmhouses and a couple of cottages. And
there's the old stone in that place, way off the beaten track,
about five miles off the beaten track, down a little tiny country
lane, and there's a stone on the side of the road, and it
says, London, 250 miles. There's a road leading to London
from there. there's a road leading to Christ in every part of the
scripture. These are they which speak of
me, said Jesus. What more authority do you want?
Let somebody challenge me that I'm over-spiritualizing when
our Lord Jesus Christ has said, these are they which speak of
me. When he said to the disciples
on the Emmaus road, beginning at Moses and the prophets, right
back at the start of the Old Testament, he expounded to them
in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. So, Old Testament
Israel is historically factual, but it's also allegorical. It's a picture of the people
of God. Old Testament Israel is a picture
of the people of God and of their salvation by God's substitute,
which is all pictured in temple worship. And so Lamentations
is the Lamentations of Jeremiah. The Lamentations of Jeremiah.
Is this just Jeremiah's sorrow? Is it just Jeremiah, whose heart... Those verses, those 16 verses
we read earlier, those are the words of a man whose heart is
broken. Whose heart is absolutely broken. He's bereft of any comfort. He's
in absolute miserable condition because he is absolutely broken-hearted. Is it just Jeremiah's sorrow?
Is it even just the sorrowing lot of man that when you're going
through sorrows you can identify with him and say, oh yes, like
Job went through trials, well I know I'm not alone, I know
people go through trials and therefore there's some comfort
in the fact that you know you're not alone and others have gone
through it before you. Yes, there's truth in all of that. It was
Jeremiah's sorrow. You can identify with him when
you're going through desperate times, but yes, more than that,
These are the sorrows of Christ in union with his people as he
bears the sins of his people and satisfies the justice of
God on their behalf. look at this with me the sin
of God's people the sin of God's people we saw it in the first
eleven verses the first eleven verses I am told are Hebrew poetry
and there's a verse for it's alphabetical with the letters
of the Hebrew alphabet and there's a verse for every letter of the
Hebrew alphabet in alphabetical order and it's an alphabetical
listing of sins and it's a painful realization that her sin has
produced her judgment. The sin of Judah and of Jerusalem
has produced her judgment. Babylon came and overran her
and laid her waste and took her away captive. Her sin has separated
her from God. Just like the scriptures say,
your sins have separated between you and me. It's the sin that
has done it. He is of purer eyes than to behold
iniquity. He cannot look upon sin with
any form of relief at all outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. These
were sins of idolatry. These were sins of immorality.
physical and spiritual immorality. There was an overwhelming sin
debt, and God's justice was crying out for satisfaction. And it
was pictured in taking them away into captivity. The justice of
God cries out for satisfaction. The soul that sins, it shall
die. it shall die, death, death. And
this is all picturing, it's historically the sins of Jerusalem before
God, but there's a picture here of personal sin, of your sin
and of mine in the flesh, of the sins of God's people, my
sins, my sins, vile, polluting, indelible sins. I can't rub them
out. You know, most things, you spill
something that makes a mark on your clothes and most things
you can get out. But have you ever, have you ever
inadvertently sat on a beach, let's say, and you've sat on
a lump of tar, oil, that was ticked out of a ship's ballast
tanks, And you happen to have your nice new pair of shorts
on that you've bought for your holiday, and you don't realize
that you're sitting on this blob of tar. You try getting that
off, you can't. It's stuck. There's no washing
powder, there's no soaking, there's no solvent, there's nothing that's
ever going to get that out. And that's what our sins are
like in the flesh. And it's crying out for eternal
judgment. And if I'm left to myself and
I know something of this, I'll be brought down to despair. Is
this not the testimony of God's saints? Oh, my sin. My sin. Oh, the dread of the thought
of my sin. The dread of the thought of my
sin. What a burden. What a terrible
burden, weighing me down. And I know I've got this dreaded
appointment with justice, for it's appointed to man to die
once, and then the judgment. And this is a painful position
to be in, knowing something of your personal sin, just like
Jeremiah was acknowledging the sins of Jerusalem. This is a
terrible state to be in. It's a state of anguish. The
testimony of God's saints is that as God brought them under
conviction of sin, that was a terrible condition to be in. That was
an agonizing position to be in. But don't despair, because as
the hymn says, a sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made
him so. All the people we see in the
world around us, they're not sinners, are they? Well, not
as far as they're concerned. They have no consciousness of
it. One who has consciousness of sin, one who knows something
of the sin debt is a sacred thing because he thinks like that,
she thinks like that because the Holy Ghost has brought these
things to their mind. The Holy Ghost has brought these
things to their mind to cry out like the publican. at the wall
of the temple in Jerusalem, as Jesus stood there and watched
the Pharisee praying so proud of himself, so proud of his religion,
and yet there's the publican, God, be merciful to me, the sinner,
as if there wasn't any other one, not just any old sinner,
the sinner, the one above all else. But God in Christ took
upon himself the sins of his people, those that the Father
gave to him before time, He, God, He who is God, became man
like His children. As Hebrews tells us, Hebrews
2.14, for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh
and blood, as the children, those the Father gave to the Son before
the beginning of time, the people of God are partakers of flesh
and blood, He also Himself, God, God, likewise took part of the
same. Why did He do that? That through
death He had to become a man to die the death of a man. He
had to have flesh and bones and blood that he could die the death
of a man. But he was infinite God. He was
infinitely holy and through his death he might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is the devil. Why does he have
the power of death? Because he holds men and women
in thrall to their sins. he came to die. That's what he
did. And up to verse 11 is all about
Jerusalem in the third person. But look at verse 11. All her
people sighed. They seek bread. These are the
people of Jerusalem. Jeremiah is talking about the
people of Jerusalem. All her people sigh, they seek
bread. They have given their pleasant
things for meat to relieve their soul. You see, they're in a desperate
state. They've given their pleasant
things for meat to relieve the soul. I'm reminded, I don't know
whether this is a valid connection, but I'm reminded of Esau. Do
you know what Esau did? He sold his birthright What more
pleasant thing could there be? This all speaks, this birthright
all speaks of his eternal salvation and his knowledge of the true
gospel. But he sold it. What did he sell it for? He was
hungry. He came in one afternoon from the field and he was hungry.
I'm going to drop down dead anyway. This birthright's of no use to
me. Give me some pottage. And he sold his birthright to
his brother for a mess of pottage. Is that not something of what
these people did? They've given their pleasant
things. What did they have? All those pleasant things of
gospel worship in the temple. And they gave it all for meat
to relieve their soul. See, O Lord, and consider. Now watch this. See, O Lord,
and consider. They, they, they. Jerusalem,
they, they. For I am become vile. End of verse 11. For I am become
vile. Jerusalem changes to Jeremiah.
and it's speaking of God's sinful elect, and it's speaking of Christ
the surety of God's sinful elect people. Christ is made the sin
of his people. These sins I am become vile. This is Christ speaking. Christ
is saying, I am become vile. Why? Because God has made him
the sins of his people. The scriptures tell us that.
For he who knew no sin, who was harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners, God made him to be the sin of his people. That
his people might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Look over at Psalm 40. Psalm 40. And verse 7, down to verse 14. This is Christ
speaking. Again, these are they which speak
of me. This is the Lord speaking. This
is the One, this is the Holy One of God speaking. Verse 7,
then said I, lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me. I delight to do Thy will, O my
God. Yea, Thy law is within my heart. I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips. O Lord, Thou knowest. I have
not hid Thy righteousness within my heart. I have declared Thy
faithfulness and Thy salvation. I have not concealed Thy lovingkindness
and Thy truth from the great congregation. Withhold not thou
thy tender mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy lovingkindness and thy
truth continually preserve me, for innumerable evils have compassed
me about. Mine iniquities... Who was speaking
in verse 7? Was it not Christ? Hebrews quotes
it and also says a body you have prepared low in the volume of
the book it's written of me to come this is Christ coming but
look verse 12 mine iniquities have taken hold upon me this
is Christ speaking but Christ never ever committed any iniquity
Christ was never ever a sinner but at Calvary God made him the
sins of his people so that those sins became his own sins You
know, that's why I altered that word in that hymn. He dies to
atone for sins made his own. The original said for sins not
his own. Well, yes, they weren't his own in that he didn't commit
them, but they were made his own. They were made his sins. God made the sins of his people
and put them on Christ that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me. so that I'm not able to look up. They are more than
the hairs of my head, therefore my heart faileth me. Be pleased,
O Lord, to deliver me. O Lord, make haste to help me.
Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul
to destroy it. Let them be driven backward."
Echoes of John. Garden of Gethsemane. They came
to arrest him. Who are you? We're looking for
Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am. And they were
driven backward. His enemies were driven backward.
They were put to shame that wish me evil. Look at Psalm 69. Psalm
69, verses 1 to 9. Who's speaking here in this psalm? Yes, it's a psalm of David. Yes,
the people of God can identify with bits of it, but it only
reaches its proper fulfillment in the God-man, in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He says, save me, O God, For
the waters have come into my soul. I sink in deep mire where
there is no standing. I am come into deep waters where
the floods overflow me. Floods of judgment. I am weary
of my crying. My throat is dried. Mine eyes
fail while I wait for my God. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? They that hate me without a cause
are more than the hairs of mine head. John 15 verse 25, they
hated me without a cause. They that would destroy me, being
mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty. Then I restored that
which I took not away. O God, thou knowest my foolishness
and my sins are not hid from thee. He made him who knew no
sin to be sin. Let not them that wait on thee,
O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake. Let not those that
seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel, because
for thy sake I have borne reproach. Shame hath covered my face. I
am become a stranger unto my brethren and an alien unto my
mother's children, for the zeal of thine house hath eaten me
up. Who's speaking? Who must be speaking? It's Christ, isn't it? The zeal
of thine house hath eaten me up, and the reproaches of them
that reproach thee are fallen on me. And verses 19 and 20 of
the same psalm, Thou hast known my reproach, my shame and my
dishonor, mine adversaries are all before thee. Reproach hath
broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for some
to take pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found
none. This is Christ. who is become,
who is made the sins of his people for the purpose of redemption
in that broken body and with that shed blood, that infinitely
precious shed blood. In Ezekiel chapter four, we won't
turn to it now for the sake of time, but you read there where
Ezekiel is told to lie on one side for so many days in picturing
the years of Jerusalem's idolatry, and then to lie on the other
side And then to do revolting things, to eat bread that's contaminated
with dung, with feces, horrible, horrible things he's told to
do, picturing the vileness of the sins of the people in the
mind of God. And it's a burden upon him. It's
all speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has made sin for
us, that this overwhelming burden of sin that would condemn us
to hell under strict justice might be carried away in the
one who came to save his people. What did he come to save them
from? Their sins. Their sins. The sin of God's
people. And who takes away the sin? Look
at the end of verse 11. meet to relieve the soul. See,
O Lord, and consider, for I am become vile." Think who it is
that has become vile for his people. See, O Lord, and consider,
that I am become vile. This is Christ. This is the Son
of God. This is God in flesh. This is
the righteous servant that the Old Testament promised. This
is the anointed Messiah. I am come to do thy will, he
says. And what was his will? This is
the will of him that sent me, that of all that he gave me from
before the beginning of time, I should lose nothing but should
raise it up at the last day. He was made for a little while
a little lower than the angels. What for? For the suffering of
death. that through death he might redeem his people. In bringing
many sons to glory, he might redeem his people. He came to
magnify the law of God, to make it honorable, Isaiah 42. He is
the one who is holy, the holy Lamb of God, the harmless Lamb
of God, the undefiled one, examined for thirty-three years the spotless
Lamb of God as they used to examine the Passover Lamb for those fourteen
days, to make sure it was perfect and spotless. It had to be a
spotless Lamb to speak of the Lamb of God. He was always pleasing
to the Father. But this one, O Lord, consider,
praying to the Father, see, O Lord, and consider who it is that has
been made vile. I am become vile, he says, taking
on his people's sins. He came to take on his people's
sins. He was made, he came for the
people to take away their sins. Matthew 121, call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. He came to be
cursed. in the place of his people. Galatians
3, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us. Why? Curse is everyone that hangs
on a tree. This is why he came. This is
why a body was prepared. This is why in the volume of
the book it was written of him that he must come. And look at
his indescribable sorrow now that he's been made vile, that
he's become vile to save his people from their sins. Verse
12, Verse 12, look at it, what does it say? Is it nothing to
you? Does it not mean anything to
you? Does this not mean anything to
you, all of you passing by this point? Behold, look and see if
there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow. This is Christ crying
from the cross. to those that walk by, to us
walking by. All you that pass by, behold
and see if there be any sorrow like unto his sorrow which is
done unto him. Wherewith the Lord hath afflicted
me in the day of his fierce anger, the fire that he sent into his
bones, and it prevails against them, the net that he spread
for his feet, the yoke of transgressions is bound by his hand. He's tied
them to him. They're wreathed upon him about
his neck. He's made his strength to fail.
The Lord has delivered me into their hands from whom I am not
able to rise up. Think who it is. Think of his
indescribable sorrow. The man of sorrows, Christ. He
was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And why did he do
all of these things? It tells us that it was for the
joy that was set before him that he endured the cross, despising
the shame, cursed, shame. For the joy that was set, what
was the joy? His people, his people made righteous,
the righteousness of God in him, taking his people, behold I and
the children whom the Father has given me, taking them into
glory. But for it, what a dreadful path he had to tread. What a
dreadful night he had to go out into, it's not in our hymn books
but there's that hymn about Christ going out as the shepherd for
his sheep, seeking the lost lambs and what a dreadful night he
had to go out into. He who was holy was made sin
and the thought of it and the prospect of it caused him to
sweat as it were drops of blood. He was the innocent one, innocent. Who of you accuses me of sin?
No, nobody, no. Not even the searching, searing
justice of God. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. Innocence made guilty because
he was willing to do it. Because it would accomplish redemption
for the joy that was set before him. He endured the cross. This
was the lamb examined, the spotless lamb made vile with the sins
of his people. With the pollution of his people.
This was the one who had always loved and been in fellowship
with the Father, who was forsaken of his Father. My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? He was punished for sins that
he did not commit. He was never a sinner. He did
not commit any sin, holy, harmless, undefiled, but he was punished
for sins that were made his own. And the Psalms tell us that over
and over again as we've read. He was holy and harmless and
undefiled, but made sin. And why? Because the Lord afflicted
him. Verse 12. Why did he afflict
him? Is not God just? How could God
do this to one who was holy, harmless and undefiled? Because
he made him sin and in strict justice. In strict justice, he
must exact the penalty for that sin. Verses 13 and 14, all of
those things that were sent into his soul, the anguish that he
suffered in bearing the sins of his people. He laid down his
life, what for? For his sheep. John 10 verse
15. Why? Why did he do it? Because
he loved them. He loved them with an everlasting
love. He has loved us with an everlasting
love. And so he gave himself for his
people. Having loved us, he gave himself.
And his body was broken. And his blood was shed. And the
price of redemption was paid. The price of the sin debt, the
sin debt to the justice of God was cleared. The sin debt of
his people. Are you among them? Am I among
them? Is it nothing to you? Pleads
this text. Is it nothing to you? Listen
to me. Listen to me. Is it nothing to
you, all ye that pass by? Is it nothing to you? Does it
mean nothing to you? Is it just for other folks? Is
it just for other members of the family? Is it just for others
who might be religious? But everybody I know is not bothered
about all this sort of stuff. Is it nothing to you? Is it nothing
to you? Are you indifferent? Are you
unmoved? Are you unaffected by the sin-bearing
death of the God-man come in the place of his people? Mark
chapter 15 says this, verses 28 to 32, and the scripture was
fulfilled, which saith, and he was numbered with the transgressors,
because he was crucified between two thieves, and they that passed
by Is it nothing to you? All ye that pass by. Mark 15. There he is. He hangs on the
cross. And they that passed by railed
on him, shouted out accusations against him, scorned him, persecuted
him, wagging their heads and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest
the... We heard you say this. You said
you were going to destroy the temple and build it in three
days. Save yourself and come down from the cross. Likewise
also the chief priests, mocking, said among themselves and the
scribes, he saved others? Himself he cannot save. Let Christ,
the King of Israel, so he calls himself, descend now from the
cross that we may see and believe. Show us a sign. No, no sign will
be given you but the sign of Jonah the prophet. And they that
were crucified with him reviled him. Who was it that passed by?
Is it nothing to you, all you that pass by? Who's passing by?
The Jews were passing by on that day of the crucifixion in Jerusalem,
just outside Jerusalem without the city wall. The religious
folks. Religious folks look on this.
What do they make of it? They were passing by, they pass
by today. The Romans, the Gentiles. The
worldly people, those to whom, for the religious folks, this
was a stumbling block, that salvation should be in this dreadful sight,
this shameful, despicable sight. What foolishness, what folly
to think That anybody can be right with God through what's
going on here. You get right with God by being
a good Pharisee and doing what we tell you to do. It was a stumbling
block and foolishness to them. And so they mocked and they rejected.
Is it nothing to you? Or you that pass by? They mocked,
they rejected, they were indifferent. as others later on, like Festus
in the Acts of the Apostles, as Paul came to give a defense
before Festus, and to Festus, Paul you've gone mad, you've
lost your mind, it's foolishness, don't tell me such things. And
then along came the other pro-consul, the other governor, Felix, and
hmm, interesting what you say. But I'll hear you again another
day. It's what we call procrastination. Putting it off to another day.
Is it nothing to you? Or you that pass by? No, it means
something, but I'll come back to it another day when it's a
more convenient season to me. Felix, procrastination. Is that
you? Is it nothing to you? Or you that pass by? Agrippa.
What about King Agrippa? King Agrippa. Oh Paul, you almost
persuade me to be a Christian. So close. But yet a million miles
away, so far away, a gripper almost believing, or like Paul,
going breathing out threats and violence to the believers, and
the risen Lord Jesus Christ stops him in his tracks. Is it nothing
to you? Oh, it wasn't, but in a moment
of Holy Spirit revelation, of Christ being revealed, of the
light of Christ shining into his darkened heart, he believed. He believed the truth, and he
preached from then on that Jesus was the Christ. What about you?
Is it nothing to you? Where does this rank in eternal
significance? How important is this thing of
the Son of God hanging on a cross, dying for the sins of his people?
Where does it rank in terms of the things that are important,
of the things that really matter? To God the Father, and how could
anything be more important than what's important to God the Father?
To God the Father, this is the most important thing that ever
happened in the creation of this time-space universe. The father
loves Christ, he says. Why? Jesus said this, because
I lay down my life. The father loves him for that.
It's the pinnacle. It's the pinnacle of what God
looks upon. What about the angels in heaven? The angels in heaven,
Peter tells us, desire to look into these things. The angels
that never fell are fascinated. Fascinated is too mild a word. They're utterly, eternally enthralled
with the fact that God the Son should become man and should
die, that sinners might be redeemed. God's servants on earth, those
that preach the gospel of his grace, they're fascinated with
it. They write and they say from
the heart what Paul said, I determine not to know anything other than
Jesus Christ and him crucified. It's the pinnacle. Everything
else is subservient to it. It's absolutely the pinnacle
of history, of everything that's ever happened. They determine
to know nothing else. Redeemed sinners redeemed sinners. Love it. Love this theme. Tell
me the old, old story of Jesus and his love, not some sloppy
love of the fact that he bore the sins of his people on the
cross of Calvary, that their sin debt might be paid. When
we share communion, when we have bread, unleavened bread, speaking
of his spotless body, and wine, with its antiseptic qualities,
speaking of his perfect, precious, shed blood. We're not redeemed
with silver and gold. The things of this world don't
pay the sin-debt price, but this does, the broken body and shed
blood. And when we think on these things,
and we remember it again and again and again, repeatedly,
until he come, it's to remind us this is the pinnacle of creation. This is the pivotal point of
creation. There's nothing more important.
There is nothing that will ever outshine in eternity the fact
that the Son of God died for his people. Saints in glory,
those that have gone, those that have left this life and gone
into eternity, what is their theme now? What is their theme
now? They cry, we see it in Revelation.
They cry constantly. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. Worthy is the Lamb of God that
was slain. Do you know who else is utterly
enthralled by it? He must be. Satan. Even Satan
and the powers of hell must be mystified. They're defeated. They know that they're defeated.
They know that their doom is sealed. But how was it accomplished? How was it accomplished by God's
Son being taken and nailed to a cross and shedding his blood
and dying? How was it accomplished by that? His defeat is accomplished in
the death of God's Son. The strong man is disarmed in
the death of God's Son. Even Satan must be morbidly enthralled
with this fact. the center point of all creation. Is it nothing to you? All you
that pass by, all you that hear this message, all you that come
past this spot, all those that were at the cross 2,000 years,
is it nothing to you? All you that pass by? It might
not be now. And when it comes to the Day
of Judgment, you might know nothing of it to make any plea to it
in that Day of Judgment. But if it means nothing to you
now and nothing then, oh, in eternal torment, it will mean
something. It will mean nothing other than
bitter regret as to how it meant nothing to you now. It's a savor
of life unto life. To those that are saved, it's
the taste, it's the smell, it's the scent, the aroma of life
unto life. But if it's nothing to you, it's
the scent of death, it's just the smell of death. But for his
people, this is what Paul said to the Galatians, 6 verse 14,
God forbid that I should glory. What are you going to glory in,
Paul? Save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto
the world. Is it nothing to you?