The Blessed Path to Restoration
Lamentation 3:37-42; 55-58 NLT “Who can command things to happen without the Lord’s permission? Does not the Most High send both calamity and good? Then why should we, mere humans, complain when we are punished for our sins? Instead, let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn back to the LORD. Let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven and say, “We have sinned and rebelled, and you have not forgiven us..…But I called on your name, Lord, from deep within the pit. 56 You heard me when I cried, “Listen to my pleading! Hear my cry for help!”57 Yes, you came when I called; you told me, “Do not fear.” 58 Lord, you have come to my defense; you have redeemed my life.”
Introduction: As you begin your Lenten journey, I pray that God would pour out his Holy Spirit upon you, empowering you to take up your cross and follow Jesus. I pray that both the strength and the boldness of Jesus would be yours so that as others look at you, they see a disciple of Jesus, following not at a distance, but His side.
Does anyone know how Lent got started? It’s not in the Bible. There is no verse that says "Thou shalt celebrate Lent." Around 230 AD, a group of Christians started fasting for the 40 hours leading up to Easter. To prepare their hearts for Easter. Pretty soon, the idea caught on. Years later, they bumped it up to 7 days of fasting. And they called it Holy Week. And by 325 AD, the church officially made it 40 days. Representing Jesus’ 40 days of testing in the wilderness. That is the reader’s digest version of the tradition of Lent.
Ash Wednesday offers an opportunity for restoration, restitution, renovation, renewal, and revival. Our lesson to night is from the book of Lamentations which is a collection of 5 hymns written by the Prophet Jeremiah capturing the predicament of a godly nation fallen from grace. Jeremiah is very emotional as he records this great national catastrophe that overtook the Jews in general and the capital city, Jerusalem, in particular. After the Babylonians invaded Jerusalem in 587 BC, Jeremiah records the sufferings and the anxieties of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple, and the cruelty experienced by the king and his nobles, priests and prophets at the hands of Babylon and their own guilt and shame.
La 3:1-66 is unique, in that Jeremiah describes his own peculiar sufferings in connection with the general calamity, and then begins a psalm of repentance seeking God’s favor. Jeremiah’s suffering was severe, not because he was an exceptional sinner, but because of the unrighteousness of his people. These hymns of Lamentation were not written during the siege, but later, at a time when the people still vividly remembered their past sufferings, and were experiencing present anxieties.
They had come into the Babylonian captivity believing the words of false prophets who had prophesied a short stay in Babylon. Now weeks had turned into months, months had turned into years and years had turned into decades and their hope had been met with disappointment; and disappointment turned into despair. Now, despondency causes people to look for someone to blame. Unbelievers and believers alike tend to blame God in time of great distress. “Where was God when the pandemic started? How could God allow this to happen? How could a God of love permit this? Couldn’t God have prevented this? Does God even care? Even Mary and Martha declared, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother had not die!”
"And it came to pass, after Israel had been taken away captive and Jerusalem had been laid waste, that Jeremiah sat weeping, and uttered this lamentation over Jerusalem and said." Our text is a part of his lamentations for Israel.
La 3:37 “Who can command things to happen without the Lord’s permission? Does not the Most High send both calamity and good? Then why should we, mere humans, complain when we are punished for our sins?”
Lamentations 3:37-39, seems to be the settlement of an argument as Jeremiah quiets his own heart and the heart of his people. Some believe that God had brought this calamity on Judah, others believed that God had nothing do with it. And yet others believe that God was inactive doing neither good nor evil. But Jeremiah assured them that God's control over all human affairs is unlimited; no counsel of men can be accomplished which is contrary to His high purpose. Both evil and trouble, good and blessing, sorrow and joy move at God's direction, and providence. Because of that fact, men have no need to complain. God is a just God.
Rather than complain, the Jews should check themselves. God has allowed nothing to befallen them, but what was their just reward of their sins.
How can we reclaim our place, purpose and peace during Lent? What advice does the prophet give when so much has been lost? When the attendance is low and the assessments high? When the anointing seems to have dried up and the joy is no longer flowing? Jeremiah offers hope and provides a path for restoration. The first requirement is found in verse 40. La 3:40 “Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD!” Ash Wednesday begin a time of Self Examination!
1. Let Us Examine Ourselves – Complaining against God has not helped, complaining about the situation has not helped, feeling sorry for ourselves will not help, we must examine ourselves. Let us examine our thoughts, words, and actions, and consider what they have been, and reform, and turn again to the Lord.
2Co 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
This self-examination is absolutely necessary. It is abnormal and uncharacteristic but needful. The church at Corinth was filled with irregularities, lack of love and misuse of gifts. Paul called them to self-examination. During the Lenten Season, Examine your thought life because “as a man thinketh in his heart so is he.” Examine your words because “out of a man heart the mouth speaks.” Examine your actions because a righteous man will do right things. The second requirement is found in verse 41; La 3:41 “Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:”
2. Let Us Examine Our Prayer Life. Apply ourselves unto God by prayer. The idea is to draw close to God in fervent prayer, in the right posture with the right attitude. Let us not do it in hypocrisy or for show, but joining our hearts with our hands, praying seriously and fervently. Lenten is a time for self examination, but also a time for fervent prayer! Believers are challenged to be fervent in prayer and fervent in charity or love.
Jas 5:16 “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
James instructs us to willingly admit our need for God, confess to one another, then pray fervently for one another because our healing bound up in our willingness to pray for one another.
1Pe 4:8 “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.”
Peter instructs Christians to take care of each other, above all things, that their love to one another be sincere and fervent; a love that is sympathizing, compassionate, forbearing and forgiving! When you love me as you love yourself, you will pray for me as you pray for yourself. The final requirement given here is confession.
La 3:42 "We have transgressed and rebelled, and thou hast not forgiven.
3. Let Us Accept the Results of the Examination. As our sins come to light, confess your shortcoming to God and plea for His forgiveness. Our confession should honest, not attempting to overlook our sins nor ignore them. Jeremiah calls sin a transgression, because we have gone aside from of God's precepts; and sin is called rebellion, because we have acted contrary to the allegiance and duty which we owe God, and violated the covenant we have made with God.
1Jo 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Both Jeremiah and John understood that sin has at least two components: guilt and pollution. First, there is guilt which requires forgiveness or pardon. Secondly, there is pollution, which requires cleansing by the blood of sacrifice. Guilt, to be forgiven, must be confessed; and pollution, to be cleansed, must be also confessed. To find mercy, a man must know and feel himself to be a sinner, that he may fervently apply to God for pardon; to get a clean heart, a man must know and feel its depravity, acknowledge and regret it before God, in order to be fully sanctified. The cost of restoration involves a price that Jesus has paid and a price that we must pay! There can be no restoration without both.
1Jo 2:2 “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
Jesus did not die for Jews alone, but for all. The way of salvation is opened by his atoning blood. He did everything necessary for restoration to the favor of God. The justice of God has been completely satisfied. Yet it is only applied to those who come to Him in faith believing; who willing confess and forsake their sins and receive His forgiveness and pardon. In the Old Testament, the mercy seat of the Tabernacle where God met man was called the propitiation. Christ is our mercy seat, where God meets us in mercy and forgiveness.
Jeremiah encouraged Judah and us to examine ourselves, Apply Ourselves to God in Prayers, Confess Our sins and Accept His forgiveness. The promise is found the verses 55-58, God will hear my plea, come near when I call, take up my cause and redeem my life!
La 3:55 But I called on your name, Lord, from deep within the pit. 56 You heard me when I cried, “Listen to my pleading! Hear my cry for help!”57 Yes, you came when I called; you told me, “Do not fear.” 58 Lord, you have come to my defense; you have redeemed my life.”
4. Let Us Embrace the Promise of Renewal. God will hear our plea, come near, take up our cause and redeem our lives. God will deliver his people from every trouble, and revive his church from every persecution. He will save believers with everlasting salvation. Jeremiah assures us that our God will hear the sincere prayers of a repentant people. Although we prone to wander and leave the God we love, when we repent and call upon Him, He will hear and will help. Although He may stand a far off because of our sin, repentant heart draws him closer. Although has sent a word of rebuke, He has a word of comfort, “fear not!” He promises to take our part and redeem our lives.
Ps 118:7 “The LORD taketh my part with them that help me: therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me.”
God is numbered among our helpers and enables them to defend me. God is not content to look on our struggles, but he takes part in the struggle. What a great consolation to know that the Lord takes our part, and raises up friends for us, and does not leave them to fight for us alone, but he himself as our chief defender who leads the way into the battle and wage war on our behalf. He alone paid the price for our redemption. Thou hast redeemed our lives; and has saved me from many dangers which looked fatal to me.
The Ash Wednesday Celebration begin a time of Self Examination! 1. Let Us Examine Ourselves 2. Let Us Examine Our Prayer Life 3. Let Us Accept the Results of the Examination and finally,4. Let Us Embrace the Promise of Renewal.
During the Lenten Season we acknowledge our sin by looking within, and then repenting and confessing our innermost shortcoming and impurity. The Lenten season allows us to discover and mourn over our inbred sins, and discover a sure way to recovery from them. Sin destroys, but grace recreates. As sincere repentant believers, we are not content with pardon, our desire is to be made holy for the future. So, embrace the promise. Ps 103:4-5 “Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you [lavishly] with lovingkindness and tender mercy; 5 Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the [soaring] eagle.”
