And Therefore I Have Hope
Text: Lamentations 1:1-9, 3:21-24
OPEN WITH PRAYER AND THANKSGIVING
If you will please take your Bibles and open them up to the Old Testament book of Lamentations. You guys know Lamentations right? I’m sure it’s in everyone’s top five list of Old Testament Books… Well that’s where we’re going today. Lamentations chapter 1:1-9… and while you’re turning there, let me just give you a little background information about this book. Most Bible scholars and theologians tell us that this Book was written by Jeremiah, even though he never claims authorship. And the historical context of the book is right around 586 B.C. – right after the Babylonians have conquered the armies of Israel. They’ve swept into the city of Jerusalem, they’ve stole the artifacts from the temple and burnt it to the ground. They’ve taken the best and brightest of Israel’s young men and women back to Babylon in order to indoctrinate them, and in order to keep control over their families that would remain in the land. And even the city of Jerusalem itself has been laid to waste. In-fact; if you want to look at Lamentations 1:1-2 before we read the whole text you can see that… It says: “How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations! She was a princess among the provinces has become a slave. She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies.” So things are really bad for Israel and for Jerusalem. If the author of this book is Jeremiah, and I tend to believe it is… it’s really bad because he’s been warning the people of Jerusalem for the last 40 years that judgment was coming.
And it’s crazy when you think about it. Everyone acknowledged that Jeremiah was a prophet of the Lord. But that didn’t matter to them. Self-Deception is the worst kind. When someone else deceives you that’s bad, but at least it was the work of someone else, actively working to trick you. But self-deception is the result of a person refusing to see the truth for themselves. Whether it’s because they don’t like the truth they see, they don’t want to see it… maybe it just seems to inconceivable to them. But for whatever reason, their deception isn’t the work of someone else. It’s their own fault. Ultimately; they chose to believe the lie.
So let’s go ahead and read our text this morning, and let’s see what the Lord would say to us.
(READ Lamentations 1:1-9).
Now a couple of things we need to point out real quickly – 1. This destruction that has come upon Jerusalem is a result of her having turned away from God. This is the result of persistent, on-going, disobedience and sin. We see that in verse 8. And Secondly; This destruction that has come upon them is also God’s judgment – we didn’t read it, but it’s down in verse 17 – “The Lord has commanded against Jacob that his neighbors should be his foes…”. Now Church, please understand, sometimes we suffer because we live in a fallen and sinful world. It may not have anything to do with you personally, or have anything to do with your own personal sin… There’s just sin in the world, and because of that, in this world we are going to have trouble. But then sometimes… “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”
So it may be personal individual sin, or it may be that there’s sin in the world, and we live in this fallen, messed up place. But one thing that Bible makes very clear is that there isn’t a single one of us, who doesn’t deserve it. You hear people ask that question all the time – “Why do bad things happen to good people?” And the Bible’s answer is – THERE ARE NO GOOD PEOPLE. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There are none righteous, no not one. I like the way R.C. Sproul said it… “Why do bad things happen to good people? That only happened once, and He volunteered for it.” Of course he was speaking of Jesus – who was the only one who ever lived without sin.
And so we look at our world. We see sin in it. We see it sin. We are at a point in time where most of us have been so corrupted by the culture around us, and so desensitized to sin and wickedness, we hear about it, and see it around us, and maybe – just maybe – we feel a little bit of revulsion or disgust, but we’re so tamed by the culture, we keep our thoughts to ourselves and keep our heads down.
BUT WHAT ABOUT NOW CHURCH?
Now we’re coming to that point, where we’re not just seeing people engage in sin, and flaunt their sin before God with no fear of the Lord at all…
Now we’re beginning to see the other end of that spectrum – The Revealing of God’s Wrath against that sin. We’re seeing the fearful consequences of years of blatant, unrepentant sin.
Now we’re seeing the result of our silence – whether it was a due to fear of man… or in an attempt to appear loving… or simply in an attempt to remain comfortable. In just the past few years we have seen our cooperative program dollars used to fund a mosque for one of the most violent sects of Islam in NYC. That was done through the SBC Ethic and Religious Liberty Commission. It’s a group that’s supposed to help us fight for freedom of religion against government over-reach, not fund a false religion in New York. In just the past few years we’ve seen prominent voices in the SBC say that the god of Islam and of Christianity are compatible, and even a former SBC President said that… in just the past few years we’ve seen an explosion of godless, Marxist, CRT teachings pour through our seminaries and out of our pulpits. We’re seeing in seminaries and in churches the inclusion of homosexuals, not in the sense that we want them to come so that we can share the Gospel to them and point them to repentance and faith in Christ… but in the sense that we have seminary professors and pastors who affirm that lifestyle and giving them approval for their sinful lifestyle.
As goes the Church, so goes the world… This is why schoolboard meetings are such flash points right now. Mom’s and dads are learning that their son or daughter is being taught that they are inherently racist just because their born white. And that their son or daughter is being daily indoctrinated with Communist garbage. And that boys want to play on the girls team, and go into their locker rooms, and claim to be girls.
Thank God we live where we live right?
All of that stuff doesn’t happen here right? But don’t forget what I said about self-deception. We deceive ourselves because it’s inconceivable that things like this could happen here. And I’m not saying it is – but would we know it if it were?
How we have fooled ourselves. We’ve come to believe that speaking out against sin is a “church event”… we all get together, get a sign, stand on the side of the road, and wait for passersby to honk if they agree with us that abortion is bad. We do it for a day, and go home feeling justified. We’ve fooled ourselves into thinking that evangelism is a “church event” where we can gather together for a block party, surround ourselves with folks just like us, and occasionally someone from the outside will show up for the free food. And yet there’s no church growth happening in the United States of America. You know that right? The only church growth is through transfer of membership. And deep down we know it… that’s why local congregations push more and more for better music, and more exciting programs… because they’re trying to be more entertaining and cutting edge than the poor little church across town. Hey if God was with them He’d give them a bigger budget right?
We have become like the Church in Sardis. Remember what God says to them. “I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of My God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.”
And let’s be honest, how many of us, can say we, like Jeremiah have stood against the masses of culture and spoken out against the sin both within and without the Church?
Now before all of you completely tune me out…. Let me explain where I’m going with all this.
We are very much in a time like what we read in our text. And there are pockets and remnants of God’s faithful people in small towns like ours, and we are hoping and praying that we can hold out, and that the sin and wicked teachings and influences of the world won’t darken our doorsteps. That things can remain as they always have. And that our small town status will somehow keep us under the radar of the wave of garbage that’s rolling over the world. And maybe we’re even praying that Jesus will come back before that happens.
But let me be completely honest with you – THAT’S NOT THE WAY IT HAPPENS!
The only way to drive back the darkness is for God’s people to stand up! To stand up, and inter-lock their shields, and to begin to push back on the wickedness and evil that encroaches against us. To boldly speak the truth in love. To be unashamed of the Gospel – no matter the cost!
What does that look like?
It looks like you going to your neighbors and telling them about Jesus – stop relying on the church event to peak their interest. You go to their door, knock on it and tell them about Jesus Christ.
It looks like you taking the time to educate your kids… stop relying on the public school system. You understand your teachers are probably pretty good people – but the reality is that they have a little less than 180 days to try to get your kids to pass a test so that the school can remain economically viable. That’s their goal right? And when you throw in sports and FFA, and band, and 20 other things that pull our students 20 different directions, it’s probably closer to 120 days of total education, if they’re lucky. And again… so much of that is simply geared to passing tests, not learning content. And it’s not the teachers fault – at least not around here. Like I said, we have great people in our public schools… it’s not their fault – it’s the system. Our system is run by Caesar and it’s designed to make Romans.
It looks like you – at your job, talking to your co-workers about Jesus Christ – not about the game, not about politics, but sharing the Gospel – BECAUSE it is the Gospel that is the power of God unto salvation. It’s not just about living “like” a Christian before your neighbors, it’s telling them that you are only able to do that because Jesus Christ has saved you from your sin, and made you a new creation in Christ. It’s about telling them how you were once lost, but now you’ve been found, and how the grace of God has come and rescued you from the pit, and how it’s only by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone that you can even stand. It’s about telling others how God, through Christ, has forgiven you of your sin and given you eternal life.
Like I said, we are very much in a time, like what we read in our text. In-fact; if you read through the first two and half chapters, it sounds like a completely hopeless situation. And if you look at our world, and our nation… it appears completely hopeless. But I want you to see something before we close. It’s Lamentations 3:21-24, look at what the author says… even though everything appears hopeless and lost… look at what he says, “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in Him.’”
And that’s the answer Church! In-spite of the wickedness around us. In-spite of the darkness all around. In-spite of the immorality, lawlessness, corruption, violence, and gross, blatant sin that’s everywhere in our world… and in-spite of our own failings and sin.
THE STEADFAST LOVE OF THE LORD NEVER CEASES!
The Bible tells us that these things are going to happen. It tells us that this world will get darker and darker before the return of the Lord. But God is on His throne! Our Lord is the Sovereign Lord of the universe. He is in complete and utter control – and He has set His never-ending love upon you in Christ Jesus His Son. You cannot be more loved than you are in Christ! And so it doesn’t matter what comes our way in the next few years. In this world you will have trouble. But be off good cheer, because the God who loves you – has overcome the world.
LET’S PRAY
