Come Ye Sinners, Poor & Needy: When Lament Turns to Repentance

Come Ye Sinners, Poor & Needy: When Lament Turns to Repentance

Lamentations 3:34-66

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NEW CITY CATECHISM #21

What sort of Redeemer is needed to bring us back to God?

One who is truly human and also truly God.

SERMON

Hank was an adulterer. He had been cheating on his wife, Cheryl, for decades. His eyes were preoccupied with other women. Wherever he turned there was another woman to ogle other than his wife. But it didn’t stop with his eyes. Hank regularly gave himself to other women whenever he had an opportunity. But throughout the years he never left his wife. A part of him liked having her around, even though he had no intention of devoting himself to her. The truth is, he hadn’t really been attracted to her in a long, long, long time.

Until the day everything changed. In one awful day his life completely fell apart. He lost both his legs in a freak car accident. As a result, he lost his job. The loss of income eventually led to the bank foreclosing on his large and expensive house. The women he used to attract no longer wanted anything to do with him. In fact, they looked at his scarred face and marred body and were repulsed by him. To make matters worse, Cheryl found out about the decades of infidelity.

And yet, in the most astounding act of mercy and faithfulness Hank had ever seen, his wife chose to remain with him. She helped him find a job as a greeter at a nearby grocery store. She helped him learn how to function without the use of his legs. And that’s when it happened. Hank looked at Cheryl and saw a beauty he had ignored for years.

Now what should Hank do in that moment? It is certainly right and appropriate for Hank to praise his wife’s beauty. But knowing what little I’ve learned about women, I don’t think those words are going to mean much to Cheryl if Hank is not also willing to confess his adulterous affairs. Hank can praise his wife all day long, but that praise will ring hollow until he openly and completely turns from the sin that kept him from praising her in the first place. His relationship will never be restored unless he repents. The problem is, Hank doesn’t even know how to repent. He doesn’t even know where to begin.

Perhaps you’ve figured out who Hank represents. In 586 B.C., God’s people in the Kingdom of Judah were much like Hank. They were spiritual adulterers, giving their eyes, minds, hearts, and bodies away to false gods. For decades they ignored the God who had rescued them from bondage.

Until that fateful day in 586 B.C. when disaster struck. Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army decimated the city of Jerusalem. They blinded the king of Judah, raped the women, slaughtered the men, and took many of the survivors away as exiles to Babylon.

In the middle of that devastation, Jeremiah the prophet looked to God. And there he saw a beauty that God’s people had forgotten. A God of steadfast love, daily mercies, and unending faithfulness. But Jeremiah knows it’s not enough for Judah to merely praise God. They can praise God all day long, but that praise will ring hollow until they openly and completely turn from the sin that kept them from praising God in the first place. Their relationship will never be restored unless they repents.

Perhaps, like Hank in our story, the people of Judah didn’t even know how to repent. Perhaps they didn’t even know where to begin. But their amazing God didn’t merely require them to repent, in His mercy He sent His Spirit to a prophet named Jeremiah to show them what repentance looks like. God doesn’t merely require repentance, He shows them how.

Turn in your Bibles to Lamentations 3:34. Though words like “repent” and “repentance” are not used in our text, the context is clear that Jeremiah is demonstrating what repentance looks like. And that’s a good thing, because like Hank and Judah, we too need to see often don’t know how to repent. We often don’t know where to begin. Take heart, sinner, God doesn’t merely require repentance. He shows you how. With God’s help, I want to show you four steps to genuine repentance. The first step is to…

Admit Your Sin (vv. 34-36)

Repentance begins when we admit that our actions were sinful. That’s what Jeremiah shows us in verses 34-36, “To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the earth, (35) to deny a man justice in the presence of the Most High, (36) to subvert a man in his lawsuit, the Lord does not approve.”

Scholars are divided on who exactly Jeremiah is referring to in these verses. Who are these prisoners, and who is crushing them? Who is denying justice? Who is cheating people in the courts? I believe the context suggests God’s people are seeing their own behavior in a new light.

For years, Jeremiah warned them that judgment was coming, but they did not listen. For example, consider his warnings in Jeremiah 5:1, 27-28 – Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note! Search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth, that I may pardon her. . . . Like a cage full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; therefore they have become great and rich; they have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of evil; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy.

Sounds a lot like Lamentations 3:34-36, doesn’t it? Merciless, unjust, greedy, deceitful. But here’s the point: when Jeremiah first warned Judah decades earlier, those warnings fell on deaf ears. But here in Lamentations 3, there’s a change of perspective. The people admit that God has not approved of their sin. Their minds have changed. They are agreeing with God about their sin.

In a world that has abandoned any notion of sin, admitting your sin is a lot harder than it sounds. We’ve successfully redefined so many of the things that the Bible calls sin, so we need to start by using the words the Bible uses to describe sin. What we call “self-esteem” God calls pride. What we call “an affair,” God calls adultery. What we call a “prayer request” God calls gossip. What we call “choice,” God calls murder. What we call a “buzz,” God calls drunkenness. What we call a “little white lie,” God calls false witness. What we call entertainment, God calls an abomination. What we call “political engagement,” God calls division, anger, wrath, and malice. What we call “passion,” God calls idolatry. What we call “window shopping,” God calls covetousness. What we call “tolerance,” God calls approving of evil. What we call “hoarding,” God calls greed. What we call “laid back,” God calls laziness. What we call “just sex”, God calls immorality. What we call “my personality,” God calls disobedience. What we call “natural,” God calls immorality. We could go on and on.

This step is also so hard for so many of us because we do not value God as we should Notice verse 35 calls God the “Most High.” He’s not Santa Clause. He’s not your grandpa. He’s not your butler. He’s not your buddy. He’s the Most High.

On May 2, 2019, astronomers released an image called the Hubble Legacy Field. Over a period of 16 years, cameras from the Hubble Telescope took over 7500 pictures of a region of space that was long thought to be relatively empty. Those images were compiled into one massive image

At least 265,000 galaxies were documented, including some so faint and distant their light measures 1/10-billionth of the brightness the human eye can see. Tonight before you go to bed, I want you to go outside and hold your thumb at arm’s length and look up at the sky. From earth, you can cover the entire Hubble Legacy Field—complete with its 265,000 galaxies—with the tip of your index finger held at arm’s length. And that section of space your index finger blocks out represents our view of about 1/240,000th of the entire night sky. What if every one of those 240,000 fingerprint-sized portions of sky contains more than a quarter million galaxies?

Everybody agrees our universe is massive. The Bible tells us that the God who created this universe, the Most High God, is infinitely more massive. Isaiah 40:12 tells us that God measures the universe with his fingers! If God were a small god than our sin would be a small thing. But He’s not. He’s massive. He’s infinitely glorious and infinitely holy and every sin is an incomprehensible assault on His glorious name.

What about you? Are you willing to admit your sin? Not blame somebody else. Not make excuses. Not ignore it. Not compare it to someone else. Simply admit that your actions or behaviors were sinful.

God doesn’t merely require repentance; He shows you how. And the first step is to admit your sin. The second step is to…

Confess Your Sin (vv. 37-39)

That word “confess” literally means to “say the same thing.” Which is why Christian churches and denominations sometimes talk about confessions of faith. They’re agreeing to “say the same thing” about what they believe.

When we talk about repentance, confession means to say the same thing that God says about your sin. In the first step, you’re admitting in your mind that your thoughts or behaviors are sinful. In this step, you’re confessing with your mouth the same thing. Confession is spoken repentance.

That’s what Jeremiah shows us in verses 37-39, “Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? (38) Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come? (39) Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins?”

Notice in verse 39 Jeremiah makes a public and clear confession. He’s not only admitted the sin of Judah, now he’s publicly declaring that it was sin. He’s confessing. As part of this confession, God’s people should admit they deserve consequences for their disobedience. God is sovereign over their suffering. If they’re suffering as God’s discipline for their sins, why should they complain? I think it’s particularly important that verse 39 talks about a living man. The wages of sin is death, so any sinner who is living is automatically doing better than he or she deserves!

What about you? Are you confessing your sin to God? Not only admitting in your mind, “yeah, yeah, of course I sinned,” but confessing with your mouth. Perhaps you feel like this isn’t necessary. After all, doesn’t God already know about your sin? Why do I need to tell him? One author says, “confession is letting God know that you know what He already knows about you.”ii Derrick McCarson, Living in the Light: An Exposition of the Letters of John, 36. Confession isn’t for God, it’s for you. You need to talk in humble confession, admitting your sin.

1 John 1:9 promises us that “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Notice John says we should confess our sins, in the plural not the singular. Often when we confess, we act like a lazy teenager doing laundry. When I was a teenager I used to shove as many clothes as I could possibly fit in the laundry machine. No separating darks and lights, no concern about water temperature, no checking tags to see what couldn’t be thrown in the dryer. I just picked up the laundry hamper and dumped it in the washing machine. But that’s not the way you’re supposed to do laundry. And that’s not the way you’re supposed to confess your sin. What God wants us to do is to individually confess our sin one at a time.

This is what we try to model for you in our weekly prayers of confession. Each week we focus on one sin and strive to confess that sin before God. But Christian, don’t let a week pass before you stop to confess your sin to God again.

But there’s another type of confession we need to keep in mind. It’s not mentioned by Jeremiah, but it’s clear throughout Scripture. We need to confess our sin to one another. Listen to James 5:16, ". . . confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” If you have sinned against another person, it is not enough to confess to God. You must confess to that person. It’s a wonderful thing for Hank to confess his adultery to God, but if he’s truly confessed to God he’ll also confess to Cheryl.

But how should we confess to one another? Don’t say, “I’m sorry you were hurt,” or “I’m sorry you misunderstood me,” or “I’m sorry I said that but.” Go to the person you sinned against and say, “I’m sorry for _________, that was sin. Will you please forgive me?”

God doesn’t merely require repentance; He shows you how. And the second step is to confess your sin. The third step is to. . .

Forsake Your Sin (v. 40)

Let’s change our story about Hank for just a moment. Instead of decades of secret adultery, let’s imagine instead that after every adulterous affair Hank admits his sin, then goes to Cheryl and confesses it. Over and over again—for decades—Hank confesses his sin. So often that Cheryl lost count. But with days or weeks after every confession, Hank goes right back and does it again.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that admitting and confessing your sin is not enough. We must also forsake our sin. This is what we learn in Proverbs 28:13, Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. Jeremiah shows us in the same thing in verse 40, “Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD!”

Notice that forsaking begins with a careful examination. You’ll never forsake sin that you don’t know about. So Jeremiah invites his people to begin a search and destroy mission, carefully examining their actions and attitudes for every trace of sin.

It’s carefully examining that conversation on the phone last week—was that gossip? It’s carefully examining that thought you had earlier—is pride creeping into my heart? It’s carefully examining the way you felt when your friend shared that good news—was that jealousy? It’s carefully examining what you say with mouth, what you watch with your eyes, what you listen to with your ears, what you think with your mind.

But this isn’t examination for the sake of it. They examine themselves so they can return to the Lord! You cannot cling to your sin and your Savior at the same time. If you want to follow Jesus, you must forsake your sin. Jesus put it this way in Luke 9:23-25 — “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?

Perhaps you’re thinking, “Yeah, yeah, I did that when I became a Christian. Now I’m safe!” In Martin Luther’s 95 Theses he famously said “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said ‘Repent,’ he intended that the entire life of believers should be repentance.” Forsaking our sin and returning to the Lord is not a one-time thing, it’s the Christian life!

Forsaking your sin doesn’t mean you’ll never sin again. It doesn’t mean that every time you sin you must become a Christian all over again. We have prayers of confession every week because we believe that every week (indeed, every day!) we are prone to wander even as Christians.

Forsaking your sin means your switching sides. You’re declaring a new allegiance. You used to fight for your sin against your God, but now you commit to fight for your God against your sin. The non-Christian is at war with God and at peace with sin. The Christian is at war with sin and at peace with God.

What about you? Are you fondling your sin, or forsaking it? Clinging to it or casting it aside? If you’re a follower of Jesus, you will be miserable as long as you hold onto your sin. Jesus gently and lovingly pleads with you to forsake it!

If God is dealing with you about a specific sin, let me encourage you to remain on the premises until you’ve talked with someone about that sin. Sin grows in the dark. Honesty heals, secrecy kills. You have my permission to loiter in the parking lot or in your seat after the service until you can have a conversation with someone for accountability. Don’t leave here with unforsaken sin.

God doesn’t merely require repentance; He shows you how. And the third step is to forsake your sin. The final step is to . . .

Trust Your Savior (vv. 41-66)

The story is told in Spain of a father and his teenage son who had such a strained relationship that the boy ran away from home. His father began a journey in search of his rebellious son. Finally, in a last, desperate effort to find him, the father took out an ad in a newspaper in Madrid. The ad read: "Dear Paco, meet me in front of the newspaper office at noon. All is forgiven. I love you. Your father." The next day at noon eight hundred Pacos showed up in front of the newspaper office. All sought forgiveness and love from their fathers. Everyone wants to be forgiven.

And yet, for many of us forgiveness seems illusive. We don’t always feel forgiven. Or we question—can God really forgive me? Psychologists and therapists tell us the problem is that we need to forgive ourselves. We’ll feel forgiven when we forgive ourselves. The main problem with this thinking is that it subtly places the self on the throne where only God should sit. We tell ourselves, what matters most is not what God says about me (that I am forgiven), but what I feel about myself. The final step of repentance is learning to trust the Savior when He says you are forgiven.

Although it might not seem like it, Jeremiah shows us in the same thing in our text. Look with me beginning in verse 41, “Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven: (42) “We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven. Now wait a minute. This seems to be the opposite of what we’re saying. God has not forgiven? First, you need to understand that what Jeremiah’s saying is that God has not forgiven yet. He tells Judah to life their hearts and hands to God so they will be forgiven.

But why did God did not forgive? This is an important lesson for us to learn about God. Some people just assume that God always forgives us whenever we sin because that’s His job, like it’s the janitor’s job to empty the trash in the office trash can. Yes, 1 John 1:9 promises us that God is “faithful and just to forgive us our sin” but only if we admit our sin. Only if we confess our sin. Only if we forsake our sin. Only if we truly repent. God did not forgive Judah initially because they did not repent.

But eventually God’s discipline softened the hard hearts of his people. Look at verses 49-51, “My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite, (50) until the LORD from heaven looks down and sees; (51) my eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the daughters of my city. Notice that word “until.” Yes, God disciplines His people. But when they cry out to them in brokenness and genuine repentance He forgives.

Listen to how David puts it in Psalm 103:8-12, The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

This is absolutely staggering! In these verses what sets our God apart from every other god in human history. It’s not God’s anger that sets Him apart. Throughout human history people have worshiped angry gods, like the Aztec god Huitzilopochtli. Nor is it His mercy. Even angry gods like Baal and Kali sometimes showed mercy. Here’s what sets our God apart: never in any religious system has there been a God who removes the transgressions of His people.

This is what it means to be forgiven. To be declared righteous. For your sins to no longer be held against you. This is what Jeremiah describes in verses 55-59, “I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit; (56) you heard my plea, ‘Do not close your ear to my cry for help!’ (57) You came near when I called on you; you said, ‘Do not fear!’ (58) “You have taken up my cause, O Lord; you have redeemed my life. (59) You have seen the wrong done to me, O LORD; judge my cause.

Notice what God is doing in these verses. God hears. God sees. God comes. God speaks. God defends. God redeems. Remember, Judah is wicked! They’ve been caught in serial adultery, like Hank. For decades they’ve ignored God’s commands to repent. So it made sense when God didn’t hear, when He refused to see, when He wouldn’t come, when He fought against them instead of for them, when He wouldn’t redeem. If you really believe that God is holy and we are sinful, His anger and justice make sense. It’s His mercy that needs explaining. How in the world can God forgive people like Judah? How can God forgive people like me?

The answer isn’t found by looking to Jeremiah the prophet, the blood spilt across the city of Jerusalem, or the smoldering ruins of a decimated temple. We find the answer by looking to the Person that this story points to. 600 years later blood would once again be spilt in the city of Jerusalem. Not at the hands of a Babylonian spear, but a Roman hammer. This time the decimated temple would not be the structure on Mount Moriah, but the temple of Jesus’ flesh nailed to a cross on Mount Calvary. There we see how a holy God can forgive a sinful people.

Paul puts it this way in Colossians 2:13-14, And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. How can a holy God forgive a sinful people? How can our transgressions be removed as far as the east is from the west? Only by the blood of a substitute. God forgives His repentant people because Jesus suffered in their place.

If your faith is in Christ, you must fight to trust your Savior. You are not forgiven because you are good. You are not forgiven because you deserve forgiveness. You are not forgiven because you feel forgiven. If you have repented and believed in this Gospel, you are forgiven because God says you are forgiven. So trust Your Savior!!!

Perhaps you’re wondering, “If I’m truly forgiven why does my life hurt so much?” Remember, dear Christian, what forgiveness means. It does not mean the absence of pain. It means God chooses to no longer hold your sin against you. When you’re forgiven, you are delivered from the eternal consequences of sin. You will not be separated from God forever in a place called hell. But you may still face the earthly consequences of sin.

Sometimes the pain forgiven people face is related to God’s discipline. We won’t read them today, but if you examine verses 43-54, you’ll notice Judah still faces earthly consequences for her sin. Do you remember the six ways God’s discipline hurts that we discussed from chapter 2 a few weeks ago? All six of those consequences are still felt here in chapter 3. In verse 43, it still feels like wrath, divine opposition, and physical pain. In verse 44, it still feels like hindered prayers. In verses 45-46, they’re still facing public humiliation. In verses 47-48 it still feels like utter hopelessness. Just because you’re forgiven doesn’t mean you may not endure God’s discipline for your sin. That discipline may be His gift to draw you back to Himself because you’ve been wandering away.

Sometimes the pain forgiven people face is related to the law of sowing and reaping. God designed the universe with a law that you harvest what you plant. If you planted corn in April and became a Christian in May, you would still harvest corn in September. You wouldn’t supernaturally harvest pumpkins. In the same way, if in your sin you’ve planted seeds of anger and addiction, forgiveness will not necessarily eliminate the natural earthly consequences of those sins.

Sometimes the pain forgiven people face is related to the reality of living in a fallen world. When Adam and Eve sinned against God, the entire universe was subjected to a curse. Now we have floods and forest fires, typhoid and tornadoes, cyclones and coronavirus.

Sometimes the pain forgiven people face is related to the sins of others. Even though the people of Judah had sinned against God greatly, they were also greatly sinned against. That’s the pain Jeremiah describes as he closes this chapter beginning in verse 60, You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me. (61) “You have heard their taunts, O LORD, all their plots against me. (62) The lips and thoughts of my assailants are against me all the day long. (63) Behold their sitting and their rising; I am the object of their taunts.

Christian, forgiveness does not give you immunity to pain. Don’t let any TV preacher tell you that faith in Jesus is the pathway to guaranteed health, wealth, and happiness. Often faith in Jesus is the pathway to guaranteed pain. But not forever. Your pain will end!

But not for those who refuse to repent. Listen to the future that Jeremiah promises for those who have not received God’s forgiveness: (64) “You will repay them, O LORD, according to the work of their hands. (65) You will give them dullness of heart; your curse will be on them. (66) You will pursue them in anger and destroy them from under your heavens, O LORD.” This is a horrifying future, but it is your future unless you admit your sin, confess your sin, forsake your sin, and trust your Savior.

But it doesn’t have to be your future. If you’re not a follower of Jesus, we invite you repent and trust in Jesus today. You can admit that you are a sinner. Along with that, admit that your sin isn’t some minor mistake, but cosmic treason against the Most High God. Then you can confess that sin to the Lord. Simply tell Him in your own words, “I have sinned against you. I deserve the deadliest consequences for my sin.” You can forsake your sin. You can switch sides and stop fighting your God and start fighting your sin. You can trust your Savior. That He lived a sinless life, died a sinner’s death, and rose from death so you could have life. If you’ve never done that, we invite you to right where you sit. If you do that today, or if you have questions, you have my permission to loiter until you’re able to talk to someone more in-depth.

God doesn’t merely require repentance; He shows you how. And the final step is to trust your Savior.

The night Jesus was betrayed left two men in tears. The first man, Peter, denied Jesus three times. Jesus told him it would happen, but Peter refused to believe. And there he stood, in a courtyard, watching Jesus’ trial from a distance. After the third denial, Jesus turned his head and looked directly into Peter’s eyes. Peter was overcome with sadness. He ran outside the courtyard and wept bitterly.

The second man in tears that night, Judas, betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. Jesus told him it would happen, but Judas didn’t care. And there he stood, watching as Pilate condemned Jesus to be crucified. Judas was overcome with sadness. He grabbed the silver and returned it to the chief priests and elders.

Both men were warned by Jesus about what they were about to do. Both men sinned anyways. Both men admitted their sin, evident by the tears they shed. Both men confessed. Judas when he told the chief priests that he had sinned by betraying an innocent man, Peter when he told the Gospel writers what he had done. There’s a sense in which both men forsook their sin. Judas when he returned the money. Peter when he later chose to die on an upside-down cross rather than deny Jesus again. But only one of those men was truly repentant

If you ran into Peter and Judas that night you likely wouldn’t be able to tell which one was truly repentant. Both men would’ve likely admitted that they had sinned against Jesus. Both men would’ve likely been in tears. Both men would’ve appeared broken over their sin. But in time the truth would become visible.

Judas would trust in his own ability to rescue himself from his shame when he took his own life. But Peter would trust in the Savior. Where is your trust?

________________________

i Derrick McCarson, Living in the Light: An Exposition of the Letters of John, 36.

CLOSING CHORUS

Grace, grace, God's grace,

Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;

Grace, grace, God's grace,

Grace that is greater than all our sin.

BENEDICTION

Joel 2:12-13 — Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.