Measure Upon Measure – Sorrow – The Restoration Of God - Part 8 Series

MEASURE UPON MEASURE – SORROW – THE RESTORATION OF GOD - Part 8

In the last message we continued these consequences of sin resulting from Adam’s fall in Eden. Firstly we did guilt and shame, then separation, then the curse, and now we continue sorrow. Sin caused so much destruction but we also look at how the Lord Jesus dealt with these issues and then His wonderful restoration. In Part 8 we look at what the Lord restored to sorrow.

As in every other consequence of sin, He appropriated it to Himself, but in this one, the Word is most direct about it in Isaiah’s marvellous prophetic revelation. Having borne all this for us, He was stricken by God because of it. A sorrowful road was the Saviour’s Road, but we were bound helpless in Satan’s prison at the end of it, and He fought the enemy along every centimetre of that road right to the end, and there He claimed us victoriously as His treasured prize. Praise Him! There was none other good enough to pay the price of sin. He only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in.

What a beautiful picture. He released us from the chains of sin in Satan’s stronghold and carried us to heavenly realms with the doors wide open!

An application could be made from Lamentations 1:12 to the Lord, although that is not the immediate interpretation of that passage. Jeremiah is lamenting the downfall and destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian captivity of the nation. This verse is the judged nation’s lament, and that is the immediate and correct interpretation, but I want to draw an application from it. In fact it is probably Jeremiah’s own person lament at the misery and sorrow and destruction. In one way he carried that sorrow for the nation, now devastated and scattered.

{{Lamentations 1:12 “Is it nothing to all you who pass this way? Look and see if there is any pain (SORROW in the AV) like my pain (sorrow) which was severely dealt out to me, which the Lord inflicted on the day of His fierce anger.”}} There was, and never will there be, any pain and sorrow to compare with His. It was dealt out to Him at Calvary as previous consequences also explored, and was inflicted because of our sin. That day was the outpouring of God’s fierce anger against sin, and was meted out to Jesus Christ. What a wonderful Saviour to me! How well Philip Bliss has captured many of the features we have considered in his magnificent hymn.

Man of Sorrows! what a name,

For the Son of God who came.

Ruined sinners to reclaim:

Hallelujah! What a Saviour!

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Bearing shame and scoffing rude,

In my place condemned He stood.

Sealed my pardon with His blood:

Hallelujah! What a Saviour!

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Guilty, vile and helpless we;

Spotless Lamb of God was He;

Full atonement! Can it be?

Hallelujah! What a Saviour!

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Lifted up was He to die.

It is finished was His cry.

Now in heaven exulted high.

Hallelujah! What a Saviour!

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THE RESTORATION OF GOD – FROM SORROW TO JOY

It is time to delve into what the Saviour has restored and what it means to us. Recently I counted it a privilege to view a video of a sincere, relatively young man dying of cancer who had then only a short time to live. There was no sorrow in his testimony, no regrets, no questionings. Unmistakably there was nothing but a joyful expectation of meeting the Lord. Overcoming joy, and peace, was his theme. The grace of God was being ministered to him in superabundant measure. That was an uplifting testimony.

We know just by reading of testimonies of Christians facing death as in martyrdom all through the ages, that there is no sorrow in death as it is for some who are unsaved. Rather there is the joyous expectation of being absent from the body and being present with the Lord. These are heart-rending because of the cruelty and satanic hate against the goodness of God in His children. One of the deepest witnesses of all time was a French slave girl called Blandina. She was tortured for days before finally being killed. Her testimony from those Roman times sparkles with the glory of heaven fringed by pathos and sadness for her. I would urge you to do a search on it and read it because it is inspirational in our lives, especially as persecution increases. If fact I think I have that somewhere on SermonCentral. It took a bit to find it but here it is - https://sermoncentral.com/sermons/whom-will-you-meet-in-heaven-ron-ferguson-sermon-on-heaven-269349

What could possibly so sweetly immerse a life, and be the dominant controlling factor of it? As intimated, it is JOY, a gift that is not of ourselves or from ourselves. It is imparted through the marvellous gift of God, the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Christ has taken our sorrows and transformed them into joy. He has removed the sorrowing forebodings of the unconverted soul, and in place of it, has restored a joyful relationship and the joyful expectation about which we spoke.