I decided that I couldn't pass
it up. Couldn't pass it up. Lamentations
chapter 3 and we're going to look at verses 1 through 21 but
I don't know, I'm not sure how
much I'm going to stay on this because this passage here is
the prophet The Weeping Prophet is another name for Jeremiah,
the troubles that he underwent, but there's a greater than Jeremiah
that this finds its ultimate context in, the Lord Jesus Christ,
his sufferings as he was going to be made sin for his people. So these verses here are a tremendous
testimony of the things, the awful things, the horrible things
that our Lord Jesus Christ went through to save every one of
his elect. Now, if you want to, I would
highly recommend, if you have a pen or pencil, to write right
next to this chapter three, Psalms 22, which is a parallel passage
that also deals with the suffering of Christ. and Psalms 69. I don't know if we're going to
look at those. I was basically going to read
this chapter or this portion of Scripture and then look at
Psalm 22 and read that and read Psalm 69. But like I say, I don't
know how you preach a text in light of the tremendous sufferings
that it speaks of and towards whom it speaks of. So if you
want to look at these other passages in your own time and see how
it all blends in to the verbiage that our Lord, the things that
he said when he was hanging on the cross, suffering things that
he did no wrong. There was no error. sin in him,
and yet the things that he underwent for us. So let's look at this
passage, and then we are going to look at a couple of others.
But let's look at this passage, and starting in verse 1 of Lamentations
3, he says, I am the man that has seen affliction by the rod
of his wrath. He hath led me and brought me
into darkness, but not into light. Surely against me is he turned. Now, this is the son crying about
his father, the things which he's experienced at the hand
of his father, who always loved him, who always cared for him.
And then as Christ, when he hung on the cross, he said, My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken? Because he was never forsaken
by his father. I'll just pause right here. And I remember very distinctly,
probably will never forget it, one thing that was probably the
hardest thing for me to understand about my mom and my dad's divorce. Because it was physical, there
was beating, there was all that stuff going on, there was a lot
of hitting, there was all these things, there was screaming,
there was cussing. The thing that was hard for me to get over,
the hardest thing for me to get over was in my mind these two people
acting like this a month ago. I thought they loved one another.
I thought there was care and compassion. I've never seen this
kind of action before. And so in my mind, I'm thinking
about the good times. I'm thinking about all the things
up until 8th grade is when it took place in my life. So I had
all those years, however old you are, all those years of family
time and all these different things. And the hardest thing
for me to comprehend and to get over and understand was these
two people loved one another. That's not what's going on. And
I don't know. But here is the cries of our
Lord Jesus Christ, a man that has seen affliction. He'd never
known anything but compassion and love and tenderness at the
hands of His Father. Now, at the hands of sinners,
at the hands of folks like you and I, as we were standing there
mocking Him as He's hanging on the cross, He endured that. He
understood all those things because He came into the world and the
world knew Him not. The very people that He created
did not worship the Creator. They didn't understand Him and
we didn't understand Him until God gives us grace. There's this
divine, incomprehensible union, relationship between the Father
and the Son that all of a sudden, you know, it's not in question,
but it's the raw emotion and the things that Christ suffered
is very real. He had to suffer these things
to save his people and to honor God's law. So look at what he's
saying here. And, you know, I try to enter
into this, but, you know, I look at it as this is going
to take an eternity to take all this in. You know, this is going
to take, what are you going to do? We're going to worship. We're
going to worship Christ. We're going to worship God. But
I think we're going to be taking these things in. What happened
at the cross? Why it happened? I mean, we understand
a few things now by faith, but It's going to be amazing to fully
understand what's going on here. He says in verse Three, surely
against me as he turned. He turned his hand against me
all the day. My flesh and my skin hath he
made old. He hath broken my bones. He hath
built it against me, encompassed me with gall and travail. He
hath set me in dark places as they that be dead of old. He
hath hedged me about that I cannot get out. He hath made my chain
heavy. Also, when I cry and shout, He
shuts out my prayer. He hath enclosed my ways with
hewn stone, and hath made my paths crooked. He was unto me
as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places. He
hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces. He hath
made me desolate. He had bent his bow and set me
as a mark for the arrow. He had caused the arrows of his
quiver to enter into my reins. I was a derision to all my people
and their song all the day long. pretty well what happened in
the New Testament, in the Gospels, when he was hanging on the cross.
So there's no question, one who is part of God, one whose heart
has been opened by the grace of God, when you read this, you
know who this is speaking of. There's no question. In these
other passages, in Psalms 42 and Psalm 69, there's direct
quotes. out of those Psalms by Christ
Himself in the New Testament. So, we're not resting in Scriptures,
this is obviously speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse
15, He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with
wormwood, he hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones,
he hath covered me with ashes, and thou hast removed my soul
far from peace I forget prosperity and I said my strength and my
hope is perished from the Lord remembering my affliction and
my misery the wormwood and the gall my soul has these the affliction
and the misery has them in remembrance and is humbled in me now let's
just stop right there and I'll turn back in Lamentations to
chapter 1 All these passages I have to do with the suffering
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's truly overwhelming, the
inhumanity towards man, the strict justice that God laid hard upon
the person of Christ. When we compare scriptures with
scriptures, these passages in Psalms, here in Lamentations,
and we'll look at a passage in Hebrews, We're the more in debt
to our Redeemer who underwent such blows of divine wrath for
the likes of us. We may only read these passages
as we are... The things that we're talking
about here, as some of the old writers would say, we're on holy
ground. So I don't know how much I'm
going to say about these. We can read them and it'd be
enough as it were. But look at what it says in verses
12 and 13. As Christ is hanging on the cross, 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. Christ hung on that cross and
to so many people he was just equivalent to those two that
he was hanging with, the two thieves. And to me, when they
passed by, it was nothing. It was just, you know how we
get insensitive to things real quick, and the sufferings, and
you know, you would think, even those who are taught of grace
and love Christ, you would think that we would not tire, but this
flesh just, it doesn't get any better, it's not going to get
any better, And I often, and I believe, that our Lord tells
us concerning the Lord's Supper, He says, as often as you get
it, do this and remember it. Do you think we would forget
what He's done for us? No, but yes. We have to be continually
reminded of who He is and what He's done. And He says, is it
nothing to you? that pass, all of you that pass by, behold,
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." You know, I've heard a lot of stories this week and the week before,
and after our joyous occasion which happened Saturday, you
know, it's just like, that's going to take me Of course, I
was emotionally and physically drained. Sunday came in and it
was like, alright, now we can kind of... And then Monday's
work. Well, then I'm hearing of tragedy and these things and
sorrow. And I'm thinking, man, and then
I read this and as much sorrow as I've heard or has been in
my life or your life or whatever it might be, See if there be
any sorrow like unto his sorrow. There isn't. There isn't. There
is none. And he says, verse 13, From above
hath he set fire into my bones, and it prevailed against them.
He hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back, he hath
made me desolate and faint all the day. Turn with me to Hebrews
chapter 5. Hebrews chapter 5, start reading verse 5, but I
want to look at specifically verse 7 and 8, which deals with
what we're talking about tonight. So also Christ glorified not
himself to be made a high priest, but he that said unto him, Thou
art my son, today have I begotten thee. And he saith also in another
place, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Now so he's speaking of Christ. Verse 7. Who in the days of his
flesh, while he walked on this earth, when he had offered up
prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears. That's what we're reading about.
That's what we're reading about in Lamentations 1, Lamentations
3, and sometimes you look at Psalm 22 and Psalm 69. That's what we're reading about
and that's what we're talking about. The strong crying and
tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was
heard in that he feared, though he were a son, yet learned he
obedience by the things which he suffered. Christ suffered
beyond You know, what we what we can
imagine or what we can even know. And that's that's why these these
windows, these small windows in the scriptures that that show
Christ what it was like when he was hanging on the cross and
the things that were going through his mind and his heart. As you
would also see in Psalm 22 and 69, it says, my God, my God,
why stop forsaking me? It starts. You know, in one of
those two songs, it's worded that way, and that's exactly
what Christ cried as he hung on the cross. But this is what
we're looking at, the things which he suffered and cried as
he was being made sin for us. After reading this passage, the
other passage in Lamentations, and those other ones that I've
quoted and have you look at when you get home, The humble sinner
taught by grace divine. We'll see a couple of things
you can't help when you read these things, you're going to
see a couple of things. You see God as he is. Not as he's preached
today, but you see God as he is holy, just without error and
unapproachable by us. That's why he Christ suffered
these things. As I was thinking and mulling
this over today as I was working, I thought to myself, at least
in religious circles, I know when I was growing up and listening
to the preachers preach, if they never wrote, he might have had
a Bible, but we never brought a Bible. But if you ever looked
at the Bible and read things and I got to talking and as I've
understood and been taught grace and taught the gospel of the
grace of God, talk to these religious people,
nobody asks why. Why would God, even in the false
concept of God that is preached today, that He loves everybody,
He's all love and all these things, you cannot help but read these
passages, and even if you didn't have any of the Old Testament,
you should read the New Testament, how He suffered, was spat upon,
lied at, lied to, False trial, mocked, scourged,
whipped. I think we talked about the last
time, whipped. Flesh ripped off from his back. How come nobody
asks why? Why would God do such a thing?
Well, I've heard a couple people ask why. Your mom. Who's having physical problems. Afraid to die. Why do I have to get sick? When your dad died, that's what
you kept asking. Why does this have to happen?
Why does this have to happen? Because when you read these passages
about the things which Christ underwent, it also says sin. That's how bad, that's how vile,
that's how corrupt we are, and that's how bad sin is. We're without spiritual life,
void of understanding God on his terms, proud, corrupt, vile,
contemptible and obnoxious to Jehovah. And he is. A purist and behold, iniquity,
not do anything about it. But when you read these things.
So why? And then you come to, you come
and you start finding biblical answers. And if God teaches us
anything in the gospel, it's that who God is. What we are. And who Christ is. He is the only mediator. He's
the only one that can suffer like this and satisfy God. Nobody else. And like I say,
nobody's asking why. And then when they're asking
why, they're asking not to because they're totally confused because
Their preachers or their pastors or whoever pretty well lied to
them all their life. Because we don't understand everything
that's going on and we get confused about things. But when we ask
why, we say God's on the throne. He's absolutely sovereign. And
this is for my best interest and for his glory. We know why. We see God as he is. We see ourselves as we are and
Christ as he is. The only mediator that must suffer
such thing. He's the only one to suffer so
and it actually means something. He's propitious. He actually
covered our sins. He actually put away our sins.
He actually redeemed us unto himself. He could suffer these
things. A man could suffer these things.
David, the King David, a prophet, Jeremiah could suffer such things.
But he could not. It didn't mean. It doesn't mean
as much because he's not a redeemer, he's not the savior, he's not
the intercessor. Christ is the God-satisfier and
man-justifier. Nobody else. He is our robe of
righteousness. He is the mediator between God
and ourselves. He's called the substitute, our
sacrifice. He's that ram caught in the thicket.
He is our brazen serpent that we look to him and live. He is
our balm and Gilead, our surety, our kinsman, redeemer and our
son of righteousness. Just he's all this and more. He's all this and more. As you
ponder. This passage here. See what it cost Christ to be
these things for us. His beloved church. Because if
we stopped in verse 20, but we have to go to verse 21. This
I recall to my mind. Therefore, have I hope. He had
hope. Because he knew that God would
be satisfied with what he offered. And he knew that he was the only
one that could satisfy God's righteous demands. And when he
was hanging on the cross, Isaiah says, he saw everyone for whom
he was going to save. And he knew he would be successful. Then we jump into that which
we looked at this weekend, it is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed because His compassions fail not. It makes no sense to the world,
it makes no sense to our human intellect or logic that Christ
would have to endure so much for God's compassions not to
fail. But it has to be. It has to be. Every other religion
Whether it's Islam or Buddha, any all these other religions,
they have reward. You do this, do that, you get
reward. This is free grace. Christianity or. Christ, the
gospel of Christ and crucified, it's all about him and it's.
He does all the work. He sets the demands and he satisfied
the demands. And he nailed everything that
was opposed to us with himself on the cross. So again, I ask
you to ponder these things, these passages, and look at Psalms
22 and 69 in your spare time and see what it cost Christ to be made the things that he
was made for us. I'd say we will read in verse
20, my soul hath them still remembers and is humbled in me. We have
no reason whatsoever to be proud of grace. Absolutely not. Because he's the one that makes
us to differ. He's the one that set us apart.
He's the one that causes us to grow in grace. He's the one that
causes us to understand part and parcel of his gospel. So maybe we read these things,
and it's hard to read these things and not get emotional, not get
depressed, but read the whole thing in context. Christ must
suffer these things at the hands of sinners in order to redeem
us unto God. Matt, would you close us please?