If you would turn with me to
the book of Lamentations. If you're like me, you had trouble
finding it. It's right after Jeremiah and
right before Ezekiel. Just a small book. Lamentations. The Lamentations of Jeremiah. I want to look today at verse
12. Lamentations 1, verse 12. Is it nothing to you, all you
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. There are many of you here this
morning that have heard the gospel many times, and yet you remain
indifferent. You refuse to bow to Christ,
you refuse to repent, and you refuse to come to the only one
who can save you. God's caused you to have passed
by many times to behold and see the glimpses of the sorrow of
the man of sorrows, these horrible things that were
done unto God's Holy Son, and yet you do not see. So I borrow the words of Jeremiah
and ask you the same question that he asked us here in verse
12. Is it nothing to you? There was
a time when it was nothing to me. Nothing. My heart was so
cold and so dead that the suffering of the Son of God, that the Son
of God endured for a wretch, wretched and no count sinner
like me. When I saw this horrible scene,
I only saw it with natural eyes and it was nothing to me. nothing. Here is a perfect man,
a just man, the only good man that ever lived and he hangs
on a cross with two criminals, murderers on each side and you
pass by and you behold his sorrow you see is unlike sorrow ever
seen or experienced by another and you turn your head as though
it's nothing unto you. Now I've heard just about, I've
not only heard about every excuse, I had quite a few of them myself
as to why it was nothing to me, why I turned my head when I passed
by. People often say, oh, there will
be a time later on in my life. I'm a young man. I have my whole
life before me. I'm a young woman. I've got my
career to establish and this, that, and the other. But I ask,
are you promised another minute? Are you promised another day,
another week, another year? Is it nothing to you? We call Jeremiah the weeping
prophet. And I can see why in this verse
he cries with a great burden in his voice. And he asks out
of concern to everyone that he sees, Behold, can you see the
sorrow of this man? Can you see his affliction? There's never been any other
sorrow likened to it. And he looks at those who pass
by with no interest and he says, Is it nothing to you? Is it nothing
to you? What an injustice. Can you see
that this man has been beaten beyond recognition as a man? That's what we're told in the
Scriptures. He didn't even resemble a man when the soldiers got through
with him. He was beaten so badly. Do you see the blood that flows
from his head, his hands, his feet, his back, his side? And
can you walk by as though it's nothing to you? This thought
alone should convince men and women just how dead they are
in trespasses and sin. The one suffering says, is it
nothing to you? All you that pass by, behold
and see. Is there any sorrow like unto
my sorrow? And notice those words, which
is done unto me. It was done unto him for a reason. Men by wicked hands took and
crucified and have slain the Son of God, but it was done unto
Him by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, according
to Acts 2.23. Why would God slay His own Son? Why would His beloved Father
God Almighty do such a horrific thing to the one He loved and
to the one with whom He was so well pleased? Do you remember
on numerous occasions in the Gospel, the Lord thundered from
heaven and said, This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. by God's grace and providence.
I have a son here today and I am well pleased in him. But I don't
think I could kill him for someone that hated me and him. And that's
exactly what God did. You see, there's only one answer
to that question. Why would God do this to his
beloved son? Well, the scripture tells us,
for Christ has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. The unjust is you, dear friend.
that unjust is me. And Christ suffered for the sins,
being the just one for the unjust that He might bring us. His chosen elect, His chosen
people, His sheep to God. Being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the Spirit. So I ask you again, is it nothing
to you? It's a matter of life and death.
Does that mean anything to you? I feel great pity for you who
are yet without Christ. I point you to the cross again
this morning, the best I know how, the best God enables me,
where the man of sorrow hangs. All faithful servants of Christ
who love their Master, they They say, with the prophets of old,
they shall look on him whom they have pierced and shall mourn
for him. When I see now, by God's grace, it hasn't always been
that way, but when I now see him hanging there in agony and
in pain and suffering beyond suffering, I mourn. For I know it was for me that
he laid down his life. Oh, when I think of Calvary and
I think of my wounded, bleeding Lord, I cannot help imitating
Jeremiah and picturing my Lord as crying from the cross, behold
and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow. Well, I
suppose if I had a first point this morning, it would be that
there's no sorrow like this sorrow. This sorrow is a matter of fact.
Men by nature feel sorry for the slaughtering of whales, dolphins,
penguins, you name it. When considering the Son of the
Living God, they turn their heads and they say, that's nothing
to me. Oh may the Lord confirm to your heart this morning the
truth of this wonderful and amazing text and may you see by God's
grace that there's never been any sorrow like unto his sorrow.
Christ the Eternal Son of God came down in boundless pity among
the sons of men and He took upon Himself our human nature. What
a stoop that was for God Almighty. Voluntarily He left the infinite
honors of the glory of heaven and He came to the lowliness
of a manger. Every time at Christmas when
they put out these nativity scenes and people are so moved. I'll tell you the thing that
moves me. God became a baby to take on human flesh, yet without
sin, that He might die for me. That is an amazing thing. Amazing
thing. And I see by God's grace there's
never been any sorrow like unto his. He took upon himself the
labor of a carpenter's shop. God. God who spoke the trees
and the forest and all wonderful things into existence now works
in a carpenter's shop. Isn't that amazing? Here he lived. He suffered as a perfect man
all the sorrows and infirmities of my mortality. In our nature,
without sin, of course, he lived some 30 years or more enduring
poverty. His parents weren't wealthy folks. Why, he even said when he began
his ministry, the Son of Man hath no place to lay his head.
When it came time to pay taxes, he told his disciples to go down
and catch a fish, and in the fish's mouth they'd find the
coin they needed to render under seizures. What seizures? Enduring
poverty, enduring labor, and at the end of his earthly life,
you know what he got? Death. They killed him. Hunting him on a tree is a common
murderer, a common criminal. The worst of the worst. And is
the world applauding? No. They should have been. It's
what he deserved, but they nailed him to a cross like a felon.
He was a spectacle of scorn and shame, and he was despised and
rejected of men. Why? For the sins of his people,
for you to trust in him. The sufferings of this divine
one are and were uncomparable to any other. As much as God's
servant Job suffered, Gary, he never suffered like this man.
Why, you say, he lost his whole family. He lost everything he
had. His wife said to him, won't you
curse God and die? He was afflicted with boils from
the top of his head to the soles of his feet. His best friends
in the world came to him and said, what have you done that
God would do this to you? Oh my, Job suffered. His sorrow
was not like unto this man's sorrow. No sirree. First consider the sorrow, the
affliction just in the dignity of who he was. What an ultimate
insult. that he endured. God comes to
earth as a man, and what does a wicked man do? They bring false
witness against him, beat him to a pulp, and hang him on a
cross to die. That's what we do. You want to
talk about your free will with that in mind? You'd have been
one of those out in that crowd that would have yelled just as
loud as the next guy, being here among his own, his
own received him not. Instead of receiving him, they
dragged him to the judgment hall. Instead of receiving him, they
scorched him, they whipped him. And as I said before, those whips
had several cords and each one would have a rock or a bone,
a jagged edge attached to it so every time that it hit the
flesh, it just tore it. They took him to the common hall
of judgment and they spit in his face, spit in God's face. They blindfolded him and hit
him and then mocked him saying, you're a prophet, tell us which
one of us hit you. That's what they did to God.
That's what we did to God. They nailed Him to the cross
and they stood there and they said, if He be the Christ, let
Him come down. He saved others. Can He save Himself? Because He was hanging there
for you. And He was hanging there in my place. Is this anything
to you? Is it? Is this anything that
you despise and reject of the men? He who was King of Kings
and Lord of Lords. And you know the strangest thing
about the Redeemer's suffering is the fact that he was perfectly
innocent. Perfectly innocent. And many
a man has died innocent of maybe something that was laid to his
charge, falsely accused of murder he didn't commit. I know there's
been cases like that. But no man has ever been perfectly
innocent of every kind of fault. He was. In this man, Scripture
says, there was no sin. He knew no sin. He had no sin. But he was made to be sin. And
that's why he hung where he hung, that you and I might receive
his perfect righteousness. That is the Gospel. That is the
issue, dear friends. Nothing else really matters when
it gets down to it. What do you think of Christ?
What do you think? He was perfect. He was never
guilty. never could have been so in any
sense. And yet sin was laid to His charge
for your sake and my sake. And He died accused of treason
and blasphemy. In Him was no sin, and yet the
sins of men were laid upon Him." You see, it's here that God brings
all the sins of the ages. All the sins of God's people
throughout all time. laid on his back. The sins of
men that lived before him, the sins of those, the crimes of
the multitude that lived when he walked earth, and all the
transgressions of those that he knew and loved before the
foundation of the world that lived since he left, since he
arose, went to heaven. Your sins and mine put on him.
All we like sheep have gone astray. You want to talk about what we've
done? Here's what we've done. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid
on him the iniquity of us all. That's where my hope lies. My
iniquity is laid on him. Is it anything to you? Is it? Is it anything to you? We've
spoken of the suffering of his body, but consider his agony
of heart, his mind and his soul separated from God. And I've
known many to suffer in their flesh, to death, and yet by God's
grace they were able to keep their attitude and spirit up.
When my father was dying of cancer, that man had an amazing attitude. He stayed upbeat. I mean, he
was in pain, and oftentimes his face showed it, but he tried
so hard to make those around him think that he was okay. but to suffer the fire of hell
in body and mind and soul and spirit. Let me ask, has there
ever been any sorrow like unto his? When he hung on the cross,
the sun from above was covered, left Christ to suffer in the
chill of darkness, three hours of darkness. God his Father hid
his face from him. causing him to cry, my God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? Oh, what a bitter suffering that
must have been. He was thirsty and they gave
him vinegar to drink. And I suppose if I had another
point this morning, it would be the sorrow of our Lord was
voluntary. It was voluntary. Who would volunteer
for such? Only the Son of God, the Savior. of his people. Oh, if I could
but just move you to see the beauty of all this sorrow that
Christ took upon himself was voluntarily. Voluntary. He's under no force that he himself
could not control and the sovereign words of our Lord ring loud and
clear in the believer's heart when he says, no man taketh my
life from me. I lay it down in myself. Oh my. Look, that doesn't pierce your
heart. He's under no force that he could not control. No man
takes my life. I lay it down. I lay it down
for Tyler Richards. I lay it down for Gary Borders.
I even lay it down for David Emmons. He's betrayed into the
hands of wicked men, but could have prayed, as I said to his
father, that would have sent 12 legions of angels. But he
didn't say a word to Pilate. But he had 10,000 words he could
have spoken, but he kept quiet because I was guilty. This perfect
voluntary freedom of our Lord was actually, as one writer said,
a double labor, for he did not only suffer, but he willed to
suffer for his people. Isn't that amazing? Even until
the end. And we see His manhood in the
suffering when He said, if it be possible, let this cup pass
from me. But we see His resolution as
God when He proclaimed, nevertheless, not as I will. Not my will, but
Thy will be done. It was nothing. Now listen. It
was nothing but divine love. that led to his perfect willingness
to die. But you can be assured of this,
dear friends, with the exception of his special love for his own
elect people, nothing else held him on that cross. It wasn't
that he was defeated. It wasn't that he couldn't have
come down from that cross. He chose not to come down because
of whose place he was dying in. I have to ask again, is it nothing
to you? Is it nothing to you to consider
and love such a special sacrifice? And to take this a step further,
I'm almost done, let's consider what I would call a third point.
Those for whom he suffered, were His enemies. God help us to tell
it. Help us to tell it all over the
world that Jesus laid down His life for those who hated Him.
For those who loved darkness rather than light. Let the whole
universe hear it. Christ died for the ungodly. What was in His last breath?
He said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.
He died for those who didn't love Him, but thirsted for His
blood. But God commended His love toward us, and that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That's an amazing thing! Would it be a big thing for me
to die for my children whom I love, but to die for one who hates
my very existence? My! Is that nothing to you? You know how I pray I could rightly
set Him before you this morning? There He is, and I by faith can
see Him, His loving eyes closing in death. And I'm not deserving
of seeing these things, but you know God has made me and you
that know Him worthy of understanding that this precious One that died,
died with joy in His heart. for those that He had come to
save. Oh my. That very Lord that died for
me, He says to me, behold and see. And He's got to grant me
the ability to do so. And by His grace I have beheld
and I've seen. And He sovereignly calls me to
see salvations of the Lord. By grace through faith, God has
made my Savior's death my everything. It stirs my blood. It opens the
fountains of my eyes. It makes my heart beat with love
and passion for the One who lived and died for me. Oh, if I could
feel it every minute of every day, what an existence this would
be. But my sin still plagues me.
It comes in spurts. And what a thing of power it
is to others also. Some may ask, well, what good
has this sorrow ever brought to anyone? Has anyone ever really
received any benefit from it? Well, let me tell you this. Multitudes
have found in the sufferings of Christ the cure of their despair. Let me make just a few comments
and I'm done. I am, and I confess to you this
morning, I'm a dreadful, depraved sinner. The Bible truly says
of me that I was conceived in sin and I came forth from the
womb speaking lies. That's something nobody had to
teach me. I came forth from the womb speaking live. My unregenerated
heart, the Scripture says, is deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked. The thoughts of my heart are
and were on only evil continually. That's what the Bible says about
My heart, my unregenerate heart. And I wasn't a sinner because
I sinned. I sinned because of what I was.
I was a sinner. Sin was all I knew how to do. Scripture says there's none righteous.
No, not one. We're all in the same boat. There's
none that understand it. There's none that seeketh after
God. They've all gone out of the way. They are together become
unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. They're froked, opulent and sepulchred.
That's a grave is what that is. "...and with their tongues they've
used deceit. The poison of ash was under their lips." This speaks
of you and me. "...their mouths full of cursing
and bitterness. Their feet are swept to shed
blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. And the way
of peace have they not known. There's no fear of God before
their eyes." And the psalmist claims against thee, speaking
to God, speaking to God against thee and thee only, Lord, have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. And he says that you
may be justified when you speak of me. You may be justified and
be clear, be perfectly just. when you judge me, because that's
what I deserve. In a nutshell, I deserve the
wrath of God. I do. I deserve eternal damnation,
condemnation, death, and hell forever. But here's the absolute
most important thing that can ever be revealed to a sinful
man or woman. Behold and see if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me." It's done unto
Christ, not me. I deserved it, but it was done
unto Him. Wherewith the Lord hath afflicted
me. A Christ. He afflicted Christ,
not me. I should have been afflicted.
I should have hung on that cross in disgrace, but Jesus, the Lord
Jesus Christ, God's Son, took my place, as the song says. And
this was all done in the day of His fierce anger. Why was
God angry? Well, He's angry with the wicked
every day. Is it nothing to you? Is it nothing to you?