Lamentations 3:22-33 "Peace in Turmoil"

[Music] let's turn together in god's word to the book of lamentations we're going to look together at lamentations three this morning verses 22 through 33 lamentations 3 22-33 you can find that in your pew bible on page 600 and 88 lamentations three beginning in verse 22 and reading through to verse 33. where god's word reads as follows 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 the lord is good to those who wait for him to the soul who seeks him it is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the lord it is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him let him put his mouth in the dust that there may yet there may yet be hope let him give his cheek to the one who strikes and let him be filled with insults for the lord will not cast off forever but though he cause grief he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men so far the reading from god's word this morning may he add his blessing to our hearts wednesday at around 3 18 i got a text from my younger brother and the text simply read did you see what is happening in dc well by now we all know what was happening in dc and we have seen a variety of responses and reactions to those events some people have viewed them as a victory a justified cause with a justified expression often of course these are the people who condemned the summer's riots ironically some people have been outraged over trump's supporters that they would do such a thing and oftentimes these are the people who ignored the riots of the summer but it made me pause and realize because of the turmoil that was so evidently available just in conversation with people and and through an observation of what was being posted on social media it became apparent to me that we must ask ourselves the question this morning what does the christian do in these circumstances within the church i think you see a reflection of what is true of society as well some within the church are are outraged they believe that the elections have been stolen and that our republic is in tatters they view the denial of the courts to hear the many complaints of voter fraud to be outrageous maybe you are in that camp this morning others have been horrified to look on as the very symbol of order and law in our nation was placed under siege perhaps by the caused by incendiary rhetoric by a leader of our land maybe you're there this morning the reality is that probably we are all somewhere in between somewhere along that that spectrum some of us outraged over the violence some of us outraged over the cause of the violence as it has been presented but wherever you are on that continuum there is within our society and within the christians of our society as well a nervous churning there is an uneasiness in our world and the question that i want us to consider together as god's people this morning is where can the christian find solid ground the emotions of the world that are on display wherever you turn they are probably here in the church as well maybe even as i've become the in begun the introduction you've already begun lining up in your mind reasons why what you think i'm going to say is wrong maybe you're already beginning to build a case before i've even said a word and so i'm asking us as a congregation to be still for these 40 minutes to to be quiet and to stand before god's word and be shaped by it not by current events and as we look at lamentations 3 22 and following it is my prayer it is my hope that by focusing ourselves on god and his word that what is tumult in the world can become peace in the church perhaps more now than at any other time in the past 12 months we've had plenty of cause in the last 12 months to do what we're doing this morning but perhaps now more than any other time is it imperative for the people of god to focus on god's word and to get our eyes off our emotions that's because peace and stability is only found in the lord even peace with your microphone what we want to learn this morning as we consider lamentations three is that the steadfast love of god turns the eyes of the christian towards heaven and that is the cause of his peace so to learn that lesson we want to first consider god's steadfast love we want to consider man's eternal hope and we want to see man's patient endurance so we want to learn this morning that the steadfast love of god turns the eyes of the christian towards heaven which is the cause for his peace we want to first consider god's steadfast love in verses 22 and 23 then we want to consider man's eternal hope in verses 24-30 then we want to consider man's patient endurance in verses 31-33 so let's begin by thinking about god's steadfast love in the opening two verses of our text often it is the most trying times that cause people to look for help and you can think of that in many different ways in in our lives but think of it in terms of people who know how to swim most of us know how to swim and we are quite happy to to paddle around in a pool without asking anybody to help us we are even comfortable with the deep end where the water goes over our heads we've had swimming lessons and so we are happy to swim without asking for any help you take that same person who's happy to paddle around in the deep end of a public swimming pool and you place them in a rubber dinghy in the worst rapids you can imagine and they are tossed out of that boat that same person that is perfectly calm in water will immediately come to the surface and begin crying for help depending on the circumstance the person will be forced to look for help we may be perfectly content in our lives from day to day but it is the moments of turmoil that cause us to look for help the rapids of water will cause us to look for help the rapids of life will cause us to look for help and we are in those rapids today sometimes we are tempted to think of rapids as an inconvenience something that god is inconsiderate inconsiderate to bring our way but god is actually gracious when he gives to us difficult times god is giving to us a reason a reminder that we must always look to him what we are seeing in our country are the rapids of life we are seeing a complete abandonment of holiness and godliness and it is spilt over into our society there is anger and violence all around the united states of america anger and violence did not exist in the creation of god until man fell into sin so what we see in expression in our society is a direct result of the fall it was introduced into the world by sin and our country is pursuing it lock stock and barrel think of this no person objectively looking at our country from outside will say here is a nation that is at peace with itself no one will say that about our country no one will look at our relationships with each other and say here is a group of people that lives in peace and harmony yet the bible tells us that peace and harmony are exactly the marks of the christian in isaiah 53 and verse 5 we learn about the function for which christ came christ was given wounds to bring us peace in isaiah 9 and verse 6 the lord jesus christ is described for his people in anticipation as the prince of peace that is the call of the christian a holy nation would be a peaceful nation not because of what it does primarily a holy nation is a peaceful nation because of who it follows our nation is a nation that is drowning in years of self-indulgent sin where man's will is constantly being elevated over the will of god both in church and in society and so what we're seeing today is what happens when that boils over when out of the overflow of the heart man begins to speak that is the context in which lamentations is being written as well you understand lamentations is a book written by the prophet jeremiah in response to a catastrophic turmoil that took place in israel lamentations is a book written by the prophet jeremiah in response to the exile of the people of judah by king nebuchadnezzar the book begins in verse 1 of chapter 1 how lonely sits the city that was full of people how like a widow she has become she who was great among the nations that is the context of the writing of our verses this morning the shame of israel it has come over her it has overwhelmed her the fruit of her sin has been brought home to roost and she has been carried out of the land of promise by the very god who brought them into the land of promise and it is within that context of shame and despair for israel this overwhelming deep shame and despair that the words of our texts are written the steadfast love of the lord never ceases his mercies never come to an end they are new every morning is your faithfulness the steadfast love of god is the thing that the prophet sets before the people of god in the midst of their moment of great triumph god's steadfast love what is that what is the steadfast love of god what does that mean well it's not some fuzzy nebulous feeling it's not the the stuff of love from popular love songs that you might know or or hear about no the steadfast love of god is found in his promise his steadfast love is found in his promise first spoken in genesis 3 and verse 15. that despite the corruption of man despite the sin of man god himself will work redemption for his people through the blood of the seed of the woman that promise is what stabilizes the promise of eternal redemption is what jeremiah sets before israel that they would be calm in the midst of exile jeremiah is looking for the steadfast love of god he is looking for his mercy it says in verse 22 and his faithfulness in verse 23 those three things those are the things that that jeremiah focuses the eyes of of israel on steadfast love expressed in the salvation of god's people that is the focus of the prophet jeremiah one day this life of sin one day this life of misery will be replaced with what is described in god's word as paradise a restoration between god and man a reconciliation orchestrated by god to man expressed in his steadfast love since god gave that promise in genesis 3 15 there are many reasons that god could appeal to to abandon that love but god's love is steadfast his steadfast love never ceases the sins and turmoil and churning of man do not confuse the steadfast love of god it is steadfast it doesn't change it doesn't move so beware of anything that takes your eyes off that promise of god's steadfast love and mercy and faithfulness that's the problem with this world the world isn't looking to god's steadfast love the world isn't thinking about god's mercy the world isn't looking for god's faithfulness in the world anger is roused by enemies and the world takes up the tools that god forbids the tools that came into the world because of sin violence unrighteous anger insult it takes up those weapons and it wields them with comfort because they fit in their hand like a glove the world senses danger and it looks for someone or for something to deliver them and those things or those persons are unable to do so and there is noise in all the world but with the noise of the world all around our text reminds us the steadfast love of the lord never ceases his mercies never come to an end they are new every morning great is his faithfulness the lament of the prophet jeremiah is interrupted with that glorious promise that vision of the steadfast love of god that is the thing that he that calls the israelites away from their turmoil and it is the thing that will call us away from the turmoil in our time as well when you look and are tempted to despair remember god's steadfast love remember god's mercy remember god's faithfulness it is his promise to his people so understanding the steadfast love of god which is fairly objective next we want to consider a little bit man's eternal hope if god's steadfast love is objective in terms of it is something that we can look at and describe and define and take hold of in terms of the stabilizing factor in the heart of the christian if if that's objective then what's going on inside our hearts is a little bit more subjective it varies from person to person now these days in our society we've had plenty of talk about evidence but i want us to ask about evidence not about something that's going on out there i want us to consider how we can look for evidence in here what kind of evidence is being produced by your heart that would inform somebody as to how you are processing the things that are taking place around you in light of god's steadfast love it seems from a brief survey you don't want to make this survey too long because it can be extremely discouraging and depressing but it seems from a survey of christian social media accounts that christians are having trouble remembering the steadfast love of the lord so how do we process biblically how do we process while remembering the steadfast love of the lord well jeremiah in this book helps us with that in verse 24 he begins by saying that the lord is his portion therefore he will have hope the lord is my portion is that your cry this morning is that your conviction is that where you are resting is the lord your portion this morning whatever our desires may be for our nation we as christians cannot possibly pursue any of those desires without this truth being our anchor that the lord is our portion loyalty to a land or loyalty to a man is not the christian's duty not in the first place the christian's duty is to recognize that his portion is the lord so how do you process as a christian through tumultuous times well you do so really not in any way different than how you process through life in easy times the lord is your portion remember who you are pursuing remember who is most important to you the lord is your portion but the prophet jeremiah continues and in verse 25 he tells us that the lord is good to those who wait for him the lord is good to the soul who seeks him so the lord is our portion and then we see this affirmation of praise for those who wait for the lord and the soul who seeks the lord that my friends is the business of the christian that my friends is our chief end in life to wait for the lord and to seek after him the text tells us that we are to wait quietly for the lord that we are to wait for him in silence says in verse 26 is your soul in turmoil today do you want to scream and shout and shake that is not the posture that god calls his people to adopt god calls you to wait quietly are we doing that as his people today but our text has even more writing in the context of the exile of israel jeremiah continues and he says in verse 27 it is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth or as it says in psalm 119 and in verse 71 it is good for me that i was afflicted that i might learn your statutes in the chaos of this cultural moment god in his providence has just recently set before us hebrews 12. we know what it means to be disciplined by god we know the reason for god's discipline in the lives of his people remember brothers and sisters that god's discipline is good that when he afflicts it's for your good and so jeremiah calls us to bear our yoke what is the response to the good work of god in verse 28 jeremiah says that we should sit in alone in silence in verse 29 it says that we should put our mouths in the dust in verse 30 it says that we should give our cheeks to the one who strikes and in that same verse it tells us that it is good for us to be filled with insults that doesn't mean we have a treasure store of insults that we are about willing to unleash but it is good that we are the recipients of a multitude of insults do you believe today that god is good do you believe that the events that are taking place in our nation are taking place according to his will if that is true it should change your view of who you are christian you are not a combatant christian the cross of christ is not born in violence but it is born in silence the christian processes through the turmoil of this day with hope and trust in the steadfast love of god that is our joy that is our hope our hope is not in cultural deliverance though we may rightly desire that it is right for us to desire the holiness of our nation but our hope is not in our nation our hope is in the reconciliation of man to god by the blood of christ a suffering that he took on himself in silence as the prince of peace our eternity will not be spent in turmoil because he endured eternal turmoil when he had the wrath of god poured out on him so god's steadfast love is the hope of the christian and that changes the way that we process our events we are able to have eternal hope in christ lastly what we want to see from our texts is man's patient endurance the danger for the child of god living in affliction has always been that he will take his eyes off the eternal and that is my concern for the church at large today and it is also my concern for us today there are plenty of good causes to get behind but political observations cannot justify the despair coming out of the church the calls of violence that you hear in the world that you also hear from some christians the self righteous condemnations of the world and also of some of those in the church they are simply expressions of despair there are expressions of a hopeless creature the mission of the church is not for things that can be touched where is the faith of the church from hebrews 11 we remember that faith is the assurance of things hoped for conviction of things not yet seen and so you may have anxiety today and you may have anger today but god's word reassures us that that is inconsistent with our faith our faith teaches us in verse 31 that the lord will not cast off forever god knows about today's turmoil in our nation you know that right god knows all about it he knows the cause of it and he knows how it will end god knows the turmoil of our country but it changes nothing about his steadfast love the steadfast love of the lord never ceases his mercies never come to an end they are new every morning his faithfulness is great god's steadfast love is a love that is never interrupted man's love is not like that man's love is choppy and unreliable man's love is some days expressed well and other days even his best effort to express love is received more as a curse than a blessing but god's love is steadfast his love never ceases it is new every morning it is a majestic love it is a love that always honors his promise he is steadfast now his promise is not related to any earthly nation anymore it is not related to one ethnic group it is not related is not constrained by any geographical boundary the steadfast love of god is promised to his people and his people are members of a spiritual kingdom affliction comes in this world whenever sin enters in verse 33 it says god does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of man now that doesn't mean that what is happening in our land exists and is happening outside the will of god god governs all the world his providence as we we call that his governance is over all his creation all his creatures so in that sense nothing happens outside the will of god but here the writer of lamentations is expressing the idea that that god does not delight in the afflictions and grief of people god is not sadistic even when it comes to the consequences of man's sin god is not sadistic he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of man and so living under this reality of this god who is steadfast in his love whose mercies are new every morning his whose faithfulness is great seeing how we should process the difficult circumstances that we might face in light of the eternal hope that god has given to us and seeing how we can patiently endure until god restores order and his peace to this world at his return we can make several applications for ourselves as we live in the midst of very trying circumstances and the first thing well the application as a whole is that the christian witness in this turmoil is to turn to the steadfast love of god and so i want to think about how we can do that by by examining three possible applications they may not all apply to you maybe only some of them will apply to you but hear them and ask the spirit to apply them to your life nonetheless the first one that i want said before us as the people of god is that we need to repent of our anger now i can hear the objections already but pastor just be still for a moment and consider god's word in the midst of turmoil for israel the text doesn't focus on man's anger or his strength it doesn't even mention it in passing the prophet jeremiah is focused on god's ability and promise to deliver god's steadfast love god's mercy god's faithfulness james 1 verse 19 and 20 says this know this my beloved brothers let every man be quick to hear slow to speak slow to anger for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of god how much listening are we doing today when people hear you speak or when they read your posts would they say that you are quiet and at peace or would they say that you are angry are you guarding yourself against unrighteous anger that seeks to destroy the fruit of that kind of anger is never the righteousness of god that's what the epistle james from james teaches us if your anger is causing you to abandon holiness and obedience then i'm here to tell you this morning that you need to repent of it you need to turn from it and you need to pursue the righteousness of god instead who do we serve as god's people who do we serve we serve the prince of peace he is our king to suffer for righteousness is not weakness to suffer unjustly is not weakness it is an imitation of christ and we as the people of god should be quick to imitate him it is faith in god's steadfast love if we're if we are willing to endure a difficult situation silently so repent of your anger second thing as a congregation i want to call on all of us to repent of our worry there's a saying that i'm hearing a lot i've probably said it myself but it's the saying that goes something like this in all its optimistic glory we say this country is done i've heard many people say it that is a conclusion myself as well that is a conclusion that is drawn by looking at the united states of america over the last number of years observing a decline in morality observing with concern the leaders that have been chosen and elected in our land and then follow that up with 2020. the concerns may be legitimate to have concerns about our country is not a sinful thing to work to correct our concerns about our country is not a sinful thing to to desire to address them or to see no avenue to address them those things are not even sinful in and of themselves concerns are not the problem unless they flow from an anxious heart is your heart anxious today my friend jesus in the sermon on the mount matthew 6 31 tells us therefore do not be anxious why will we not be anxious because of the promise that we have just heard this morning in verse 31 the lord will not cast off forever so trust in the lord wait for him god's love is steadfast and so we need not be anxious about anything to become anxious at its very root is to doubt the steadfast love of god so we're to repent of our anger we're to repent of our worry the next thing that i want to exhort us to do in light of this text is that we as christians should love our enemies the thing that is most striking in our cultural climate is the level of animosity that goes from zero to a hundred in a matter of seconds it seems the level of vitriol that exists between never trumpers and and trumpers between democrats and republicans it's it's so high in our land it is like never seen before often people are blind to the sins of their side if you want to call it that and any criticism of political opponents is immediately accepted as truth regardless of whether or not it has been verified are you living in that world today are you motivated to respond to the world in that same way i know i have been at different points of the circumstances that i see unfolding around us i've i've engaged in in all of those things probably but my friends that kind of animosity that kind of blindness to the truth is not to honor the lord that kind of animosity is not to live in accordance with the commandments of god which call us to love our neighbor as ourselves it goes even beyond that in matthew 5 verse 44 it says love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven your identity as a son of god exists in the very nature of your response to your enemies here's the amazing thing we're quick to condemn our enemies aren't we we all are but god when you were his enemy sent his son to die on a cross for you god combats his enemies with salvation what he does have we tried those weapons have we taken up those weapons or have we taken up the weapons of the world have we tried loving our enemies enough that we would seek to lead them to christ aren't you glad that god did not treat his enemies the way you treat yours it is the steadfast love of god that gives the christian hope it is the steadfast love of god that governs his walk and his walk is described in this way in ephesians 4 32 be kind to one another tenderhearted forgiving one another as god in christ forgave you christian you serve the prince of peace and he made you his subject when you were his enemy it's not a hallmark slogan it is the reality that god in christ reconciles his enemies to himself through the blood of his son and holds fast to them and never lets them go that steadfast love causes or should cause you to look beyond whatever is going on over here and it should make you have your eyes directed towards heaven the steadfast love of god is the instrument that brings the christian peace and the peace that the christian has inherited from god is reflected in his love for his neighbor the call from god's word today is not that we cannot feel strongly that's a double negative god's not telling us that we need to not care god is not telling us that we can't even be passionate about what should be done in our nation but the church is the kingdom of the prince of peace and the kingdom and the subjects of the prince of peace should not resort to the ways of the enemy so people of god cease from your anger repent of your worrying and love your enemy rejoice because the steadfast love of god rescued you while you were his enemy live under the gracious love of god and wait hopefully and confidently for his salvation because scripture teaches us that he will not cast off forever but that he will have compassion according to his steadfast love let's pray

Channel: Cliffwood Presbyterian Church

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Length: 43min 12sec (2592 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 11 2021