Lament, You Unfaithful

ME (A hook): Hallmark Movies

It is now December,

So, now it is officially that time of year!

You all know what I am talking about.

It is Hallmark movie season!

Where the fast-living city girl with the fancy corporate job,

Somehow ends up in a small town where everything slows down,

And after she frustratedly deals with a couple inconveniences,

She begins to soften up,

Falling in love with that small-town charm,

And the too good to be true,

How is he still single?—country boy.

After a minor conflict seems to threaten this meant-to-be relationship,

They work it out and they live happily ever after.

Now, I am not picking on you if you are a fan of these movies.

But I bring them up,

Because they, perhaps more than any other type of movie or show,

Present this perfectly idyllic life that is nothing more than an invention of our culture.

This fictional life that is untouched by deep pain is not something we find in the Bible.

Which is actually a great comfort.

Because it means this sense of brokenness we all feel in our lives,

Is something God knows all about.

It means He is with us when we find ourselves walking through the valley of the shadow of death.

Suffering is a clear and prominent part in the Bible.

Right in the middle of God’s inspired and infallible Word,

Is a book that expresses the type of suffering that can be found right in the middle of our lives.

The Book of Lamentations.

So, this morning,

We are beginning a 5-part series through Lamentations,

Called Light in the Lament.

Slide

God does not hide the complaints and cries of His suffering people.

His inspired Word leans into our human suffering.

Lamentations gives us the tools we need for our own suffering,

And as we bear with others in their suffering.

Lamentations accomplishes this in a powerfully emotive way.

Because it is not so much a story,

As it is a song.

Which matters.

Yes, stories have the ability to stir up emotions,

And create a sense of understanding.

But has anyone here ever had a song that pierced to your heart in seconds,

Bringing you to tears before you ever get to the chorus?

I know I have.

And that is what Lamentations can do for us.

Speaking from personal experience,

I have been able to find myself in this book.

I have been able to identify with the some of the deep agony that is expressed,

In some of my own suffering.

And in so doing,

I have found unexpected comfort in knowing that living in God’s world is not as neat and tidy as our movies and social media likes to portray.

The messiness of Lamentations is actually quite therapeutic.

It shows us how our unresolved questions end up being the answers themselves.

Lamentations is a genuine depiction of life in this broken world.

Slide

But it is also a realization of God’s work.

It may be difficult for us to accept,

But all this suffering comes directly from God’s heavy hand of discipline on those He loves.

And this is a good thing!

The God of Lamentations is the God we love!

The God we serve!

The God we give our lives to!

The same God who caused tragedy to fall on those He loves,

Also includes their complaints toward Him in His Word.

I don’t know about you,

But I often find myself complaining throughout life as well.

So, this book is a guide for my complaints.

Making it is strangely comforting to realize,

That lament is an experience for everyone God uses to fulfill His promises.

WE (Why does this matter to us?): Advent Lament

This gives us an idea of what Lamentations is about,

So, the outline for the rest of our time this morning,

Slide

Is that...

Lament is for Advent

Lament is to be Felt

Lament is to Repent

So, lets jump right in to talk about how lament is for Advent.

Slide

The reason lament is for Advent has to do with God’s promises.

Today, we live in a flawed and broken world with flawed and broken people.

However, our culture tends to believe that we humans are always progressing,

And we can’t be stopped.

Whether it is through advancements in science or technology or philosophical enlightenment,

We humans believe we can overcome any and all of the problems we will ever face.

But the Bible,

Pushes back against this naive optimism.

It is not a scientific document,

Or a collection of spiritual or philosophical principles.

It tells us how we humans were created in God’s image,

But we fractured it,

By our own rebellion.

So, the One Who made us,

Made Himself into a human,

To restore His image in us.

But that’s not all.

The Bible tells us about the power of sin and death and how we are held captive to it.

You see,

The Bible shows how the state of humankind is not very optimistic.

And of all the books in the Bible,

Perhaps Lamentations most clearly,

Presses deeply into human misery, human foolishness, human pain, and human disappointment.

The Advent season,

Understood properly,

Is designed to help us comprehend this,

Strengthening us for life in this flawed and broken world,

Where there are deadly forces actively working against human well-being,

And God’s good purposes.

Around the world today,

There is catastrophic famine,

Promises of freedom in countries led by oppressive rulers,

And violent wars between neighboring nations.

This is what the best of our human efforts get us,

A darkened world.

And the Advent season always begins in the dark.

In order to understand this,

We need to understand the overarching trajectory of the OT.

In a general sense,

The OT can be broken up into two parts:

Pre-Exile and post-Exile.

Slide

The Pre-Exile period begins in Genesis and Exodus,

Where God promises Abraham to make a chosen nation for Himself from Abraham’s line.

But the realization of this promise,

Did not come about until after 4 centuries of slavery in Egypt.

So, from the start,

We see that sometimes the completion of God’s promises comes through suffering.

Promises bring hardship which brings weeping which is part of God’s will.

Nonetheless, God keeps His promises.

He gave the people a land flowing with milk and honey.

And in this land,

The people had the opportunity to prosper.

But instead, they gave their love to things other than God.

They were indifferent to the poor,

They perverted God’s system of justice,

And turned to foreign gods and idols.

This divided them as a nation.

So, God disciplined His people in the form of the Babylonians,

Who came into Jerusalem,

Conquering God’s people,

Laying waste to the temple,

Where they worshiped God,

And taking them away into their foreign land.

This was the Exile.

It was self-inflicted suffering.

Today, God still allows us to suffer,

Disciplining us as a direct consequence of our sin.

But the Bible also teaches that not all suffering is a direct result of our sin.

Sometimes we suffer because we live in a broken world.

So, whether we recognize it or not,

God glorifies Himself through our suffering.

Slide

As Rom. 8:28 promises,

Romans 8:28 ESV

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

So, God is at work,

Even in our suffering,

To train us up,

And to glorify Himself.

It does not make it enjoyable,

It is still hard,

And it makes us want to weep.

Like we see in Lamentations.

During the exile,

God’s promise of a chosen people,

His grace and mercy seemed to be at an end.

The feelings of this darkened state is captured in painful but poetic fashion in Lamentations.

Up till now,

God’s people had become proud, secure in the land, flexing their military muscles, certain of their standing as God’s chosen people.

So, they ignored the warnings of prophets like Jeremiah.

Who warned about the fall of Jerusalem,

Then later expressed the pain of ignoring that warning in Lamentations.

As a result,

What we notice after the exile,

Is a shift in the tone of the prophets.

A shift that is the foundation of Advent.

The prophets began looking toward the coming of the Lord.

They were not looking toward scientific data,

The good ol’ days,

Or technological advancements for human improvement.

Instead, they demonstrate how we cling to and trust the promises of God!

When human experience and human potential fail,

God still saves!

In the darkest of Exiles,

And deepest of laments,

An almighty God intervenes,

Bringing the light of hope for the redemption of all humankind!

With the first Advent,

All of God’s promises came into being in the most unthinkable of ways:

With the ordinary birth of a lowly infant in a stable.

A child who was received by most with either indifference,

Or murderous rage.

But there were some,

Who responded in awe.

Some who trusted that heaven truly came to earth.

That God in the flesh was born as a baby.

That His plan, His purpose, His promise was fulfilled!

And it was all God’s doing,

Not our own!

And it is in the dark where Advent begins.

So, Lament is for Advent,

Because Advent begins in the dark.

But in the dark,

Christ was born,

And Jesus Christ is the Light in the Lament.

GOD (Teach the text): Intro to Lamentations

So, as we prepare to look at Lamentations this Advent season,

Slide

It is important to understand that Lamentations is an emotionally charged book.

It is not meant to just be read,

It is meant to be felt.

So, the tone is relatively off-putting.

I mean,

The Bible as a whole promises us that there is an other side to suffering.

But the distance to that other side varies greatly,

And more often than not,

It is not immediate.

Sometimes, lament can last a lifetime.

The prosperity message that we will reach the other side in this life is misleading,

And far removed from what the Bible teaches.

Suffering is a part of life for us all,

But this is especially true for members of Christ’s body.

So, Lamentations is remarkable,

In the way that several verses spring from this place of utter desperation.

It is an overall dark and depressing book.

At its lowest points,

There is no escape from the darkness.

But it is appropriate for Advent,

Because the Light of God’s faithfulness,

Reaches down to us in darkness.

So, Lamentations poetically expresses eyes of faith,

Speaking words that are both beautiful and haunting,

Words of unspeakable comfort,

That ring out from the darkness,

Words that inspired the lyrics of “Great is Thy Faithfulness.”

“Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father,

There is no shadow of turning with Thee,

Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not,

As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.

Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see;

All I have needed Thy hand hat provided!

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,

Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;

Strength for today, and bright hope for tomorrow,

Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside.”

So, my hope this Advent and New Year,

Slide

Is that in these five chapters,

Each of which is its own poem,

You will be able to find a full expression of lament for whatever darkness you find yourself in,

And a hunger for the hope that is only provided,

In the birth, life, death, resurrection, and promised return of Jesus Christ.

Because great is God’s faithfulness!

We, however, are confronted by our unfaithfulness in Lamentations 1.

Even so,

God still says to Lament, you unfaithful.

But if you are going to lament,

It is important you understand what it means to lament biblically.

Biblical lament first expresses a complaint about adversity that God either tolerates or directly causes.

Second, it confesses trust in God,

Third, it appeals for deliverance,

On the basis of God’s character and His promises.

Lastly, it affirms the certainty of God’s judgment.

Lamentations demonstrates this in a poetic way,

Using a Hebrew acrostic,

Where the beginning of each verse starts with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet,

Using all 22 letters.

This structure provides the poet an emotional runway to express grief.

It allows them to deal with things that are essentially too difficult to communicate with words.

Central to ch. 1 is the reality of God’s just wrath against His own people.

They were unfaithful,

And God warned them of judgment for a long time.

Slide

So, biblical lament is not this exasperated,

Sigh of surrender.

Like, “woe is me!”

No, biblical lament is an active process of moving the mental acceptance of God’s judgment,

Through our emotional resistance,

Into a heart-based acceptance of God’s judgment.

You see,

The author of Lamentations,

Seems to mentally understand God’s justice.

Something many of us might be able to affirm mentally.

But the agony,

The shock, terror, and bewilderment of experiencing His justice,

Leaves us in emotional turmoil.

So, biblical lament allows us to freely work through that turmoil,

Fully expressing the agony, shock, terror, and bewilderment,

Bringing that mental understanding of God’s justice to rest in our hearts.

This makes Lamentations powerful when we are in anguish and sorrow.

As we read through these poems,

We feel the poet’s anguish.

As he affirms God’s mercy and faithfulness,

Clinging to God’s promises,

As the ongoing foundation of his trust and hope.

Slide

This makes Lamentations one of the greatest examples in the Bible of active faith in God!

Lamentations looks for that other side of suffering,

Holding out hope for the light to come,

And break through the darkness.

Central to this hope is the mysterious sovereignty of God.

Jesus Himself demonstrates the great power of lament.

When He experienced His own darkness and abandonment on the cross,

Crying out,

“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

But Jesus’ redemptive suffering was all part of God’s mysteriously sovereign will.

So, biblical lament expresses both the goodness and severity of God that converges perfectly in the gospel.

Slide

As the Apostle Paul says in Rom. 11:22,

Romans 11:22 (ESV)

Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.

Lamentations was written in a time where God’s people were feeling the severity of God.

It was a time of great darkness and humiliation.

But these emotive poems look beyond that darkness and humiliation,

Toward the humble birth, humiliating death, and exalting resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.

Because of Christ,

Today, you and I can confidently trust that God is good,

And He will do good in His time.

YOU (Response): Lam 1

So, look at Lamentations 1 with me,

Where we see that Lament is to Repent.

Slide

The poem immediately hooks us,

Beginning with the exclamation, “How!”

As the poet laments over the loneliness of Jerusalem,

The Daughter of Zion.

This was God’s chosen city that was once full of people,

Exalted among the nations,

A princess among the cities.

But she committed spiritual suicide.

She violated God’s law,

And now the consequences were rushing toward her.

From the opening words,

The theme is clear:

This is the state of suffering people find themselves in,

Caused by their own unfaithfulness.

It is a haunting opening.

This city was once lovely and vivacious,

Where King David ruled with a powerful military,

And Solomon built grand palaces,

A spectacular city that was both magnificent and marvelous,

Is now a desolate wasteland.

Picture some of the grandest cities in the world today,

And imagine what it would be like for them to be reduced to a dumpster fire.

This is the picture vs. 1 is painting for us.

Isaiah 1 details this even more graphically,

Isaiah 1:21–25 ESV

How the faithful city has become a whore, she who was full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers. Your silver has become dross, your best wine mixed with water. Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow’s cause does not come to them. Therefore the Lord declares, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: “Ah, I will get relief from my enemies and avenge myself on my foes. I will turn my hand against you and will smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy.

In Exile,

Jerusalem has become a lonely widow,

And a slave.

This is especially painful because God’s ultimate design for her is freedom.

She became a nation when God delivered her from slavery in Egypt.

He blessed her,

Brought her into the Promised Land,

Gave her His Law to know how to live.

But now,

She is exiled,

Punished,

And put to forced labor.

All because she had been unfaithful to keep her covenant with God.

Slide

Vs. 2 continues saying she weeps bitterly during the night,

Because none of her lovers offer her comfort.

These lovers are not true love,

They are the idols we willingly trust in and love,

Instead of God.

The people have chosen to love their idols,

But now,

The idols are all gone.

They did not last,

They did not do what they promised,

They never loved you,

They do not bring you comfort.

So, for Jerusalem,

There is no one to comfort her.

Which is truly tragic:

To have no comfort when the God of all comfort has promised to comfort you,

But you pursue other lovers and idols instead.

Slide

The losses continue to pile on in vs. 3,

Clearly stating that Jerusalem is in exile for the first time.

The people who were to be set apart,

Who God promised rest to in Deut. 12:9,

Instead, live among the nations,

Having no place to rest.

Pursuers had caught and overtaken her,

She has fallen as easy prey to her enemies.

Slide

The people use to have these regular patterns of joyful worship.

But the tragic exile that has overtaken the city,

Has now overtaken her religious life as well.

All their worship patterns have been interrupted.

The roads to Zion used to be filled with all the people who lived far away,

Travelling to come and worship God at the temple.

They would be coming for multiple appointed feasts throughout the year,

Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, and Booths.

Jerusalem was a happening place.

It would be packed with crowds of worshippers,

And priests leading over these celebrations.

But now,

Vs. 4 says,

Gone are all the festivals,

The roads to Zion are no longer blessed but in mourning,

The gates are not packed but deserted,

And the priests are not leading in worship but groaning in misery.

Everything was deserted.

Even the young women are grieving,

Instead of dancing as they were in Jer. 31.

The city is defeated and bitter.

Slide

Therefore, the poet complains in vs. 5,

How Jerusalem has lost her prestige,

And her adversaries prosper.

But notice how his complaint here affirms what he says at the start of Jer. 12.

Jeremiah 12:1 ESV

Righteous are you, O Lord, when I complain to you; yet I would plead my case before you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?

So, Jeremiah is complaining to God.

Because he recognizes God’s faithfulness,

And the people’s unfaithfulness.

Slide

Although he does not understand why his enemies prosper,

He knows the reason Jerusalem,

The Daughter of Zion’s,

Splendor and courage and leaders have vanished,

Is because of her unfaithfulness.

Slide

So, in vs. 7,

The bitter reality of her present darkness,

Clashes against the cherished memories of an earlier, happier time.

When the city had all these valuable belongings,

And she would defeat her enemies.

But now,

She can no longer worship God as she had,

She has no one to help,

Her enemies laugh at her,

Mocking her downfall.

This is the state of Jerusalem.

It is a vivid reminder that nothing in this world lasts forever.

Great people still die.

Massive churches become empty buildings that fall apart,

Successful companies go under,

Prestigious universities falter.

The list could go on.

These old buildings and structures can stir memories:

Some that make us smile fondly,

Others that make us wince or well-up in pain or grief.

I mean,

We can drive around and see many examples of this in our area.

Several factories or barns that sit abandoned,

Most of the old IBM plant in Endicott,

You could go to Riverside Drive in Johnson City right now,

And look at the old Davis College campus.

So many great movements that seemed so vital in the moment.

Standing as vacant buildings to remind us that nothing in this world lasts forever.

But God has promised us a New Jerusalem.

A city that will descend from heaven,

That will be the exact opposite of loneliness and despair.

A city where Christ will dwell!

So, in our darkened and decaying world,

We remember the light of Christ’s first coming,

As assurance of His second coming.

Slide

Vs. 8-14 shifts to exploring the sins that brought Jerusalem to this low point of grief.

Unlike Job,

Jerusalem was suffering for a reason.

They created this circumstance.

God did not want this for them,

He sent them Jeremiah to prevent this.

But they ignored God’s gracious provision,

And instead received God’s punishment for their unfaithfulness.

Jeremiah says she became filthy.

Now, according to the ritual law,

Blood makes one impure,

So, when a woman was on her period,

She was considered impure,

And was essentially cutoff from ceremonial worship until her bleeding stopped.

That is why the woman with the bloody discharge in the Gospels was so hopeless and despairing.

And if it became public knowledge that a woman was bleeding,

In addition to being cutoff from worship,

She would also have to deal with the public shame and humiliation of being impure.

This was what the culture was like.

So, when Jeremiah says Jerusalem became filthy,

The Hebrew word most literally says,

She became menstrual.

Jeremiah is painting this picture for us,

Saying because of Jerusalem’s grievous sin,

She is impure and cut off from worshipping God,

Like a woman who is on her period.

But, he continues,

Saying, she endures an extra measure of shame and humiliation,

Because she is naked,

Everyone can see her,

And they despise her.

This is perhaps the most humiliating thing a person could experience in this culture.

Public nakedness was often used as a punishment.

And continuing in vs. 9,

The bleeding that makes her unclean is said to stain her skirts.

In other words,

The reason for being cutoff from worship, despised, and humiliated is clear and obvious.

Yet she took no thought of her future.

In other words,

The people never considered that God would actually fulfill the threats He warned of through the prophets.

So, even though it is obvious that they were unfaithful to God,

The people are still astonished by this terrible fall.

So, at the end of vs. 9,

Jeremiah appeals to God on behalf of the people.

Demonstrating the active engagement of biblical lament!

“Behold my affliction!”

He says!

“God, look at my suffering!”

This is lament!

In his loneliness,

He prays to God,

Begging God to simply see, recognize, and know his suffering and affliction.

Slide

Suffering that has reached what is most precious.

The entire temple,

Let alone the sanctuary,

Was meant to draw people into worship of the Holy God!

But now, God has sent these enemies to invade and desecrate the temple.

Taking all the valuable belongings,

Entering into the holy parts that the Law forbids,

With no regard to the sanctity of that place.

Slide

Their desolation,

Their suffering and trauma,

Is like starving people,

Groaning and searching for food,

Willing to give away their most valuable treasures and precious belongings,

Jewels and gold being exchanged,

For a meager piece of bread to eat,

Just to keep them from starving to death.

Then, at the end of vs. 11,

We see the active engagement of true biblical lament for a second time,

“Look! Lord, and see how I am despised!”

Again, Jeremiah simply wants God to see and understand their desperate situation.

Slide

But in vs. 12,

Jeremiah wants those around him to understand his desperate situation.

Giving us a picture of this suffering person on the street,

As everyone walks by not noticing them,

They begin shouting,

“Is this nothing to you?!”

“Look at me!”

“Is their any pain like the pain I am dealing with?!”

It is that sense of suffering that feels like no one has ever experienced,

And no one seems to care!

But notice after that,

Jeremiah continues with an important part of biblical lament,

Acknowledging that this sorrow was brought upon by God.

Specifically inflicted on the day of His fierce or burning anger.

This is rightly identifying God as the source of discipline,

But this does not make it any less terrifying!

On the day of the Lord,

God’s anger will be against all the unfaithful.

At our core,

None of us want to obey God.

In fact, we resent Him for expecting us to obey.

The reality is,

It is no easy thing to follow God.

And none of us do it perfectly.

Therefore, we are all unfaithful.

Slide

So, Jeremiah depicts God’s punishment for unfaithfulness with four strong metaphors.

1) Sending fire from on high into our bones.

2) Spreading a net,

Leaving us stunned, desolate, sick, and faint all day long.

Slide

Third, in vs. 14,

The sins,

Or transgressions,

From being unfaithful,

Form into a yoke,

That is bound around our neck.

This pictures the weighty burden of our sin.

To bear the yoke means to absorb the wrath that is intended.

It is a clear picture that the weight of your sin is unbearable.

There are natural consequences for sin.

God’s punishment for your unfaithfulness breaks your strength,

And you are given over into the hands of those you cannot withstand.

Today, we are fortunate to see this from the other side of the cross.

Because God has promised to never leave us or forsake us.

He gives us grace to face the challenges of this life,

But more importantly,

To overcome the condemnation we deserve for our unfaithfulness.

In Christ, God reverses the eternal consequences of our sin and unfaithfulness.

Now, this does not mean He will reverse every temporary consequence.

So, we must fight against sin and unfaithfulness in this world,

By repenting.

Not just once,

But through ongoing repentance that relies on presence, power, and promises of God.

Slide

Jesus invites you in Matthew 11:29-30,

Matthew 11:29–30 ESV

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

The gospel teaches that Jesus took the yoke of our sins and unfaithfulness on the cross,

And instead,

Offers us His easy yoke that is light and gives rest for our weary souls,

If we repent of our unfaithfulness and trust in Him.

Slide

If not,

Then we face the eternal consequence illustrated by the fourth metaphor in vs. 15,

Being crushed and trampled like grapes in a winepress.

The picture is that the full might and force of God,

Will be turned against all the unfaithful,

This foreshadows the final judgment of Christ’s second Advent.

Slide

Rev. 19:15 says Christ will return and...

Revelation 19:15 ESV

From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.

This is the eternal consequence for all the unfaithful who do not repent and trust in Christ.

Slide

The feeling of Jeremiah’s heartbreak is wrenching to the core.

Vs. 17 continues.

Slide

The people who were meant to be a witness to God’s holiness,

Have been unfaithful,

Tarnishing their testimony to those around them,

So much so,

That their neighbors should be their enemies.

The people are in darkness,

Because God is disciplining them for their unfaithfulness.

From this posture of contrition,

Out of the darkness of suffering,

Jeremiah confesses in the remaining verses,

That God is right for disciplining His people this way.

Likewise, God is right to punish us all.

It is what we deserve.

Because we are unfaithful sinners.

Slide

It is true for everyone of us to say,

As vs. 18 says,

“I have rebelled against God’s Word.”

God’s chosen people were guilty,

You are guilty,

I am guilty,

We all are guilty.

We all are unfaithful.

Lamentations confesses this on our behalf.

Slide

Continuing in vs. 19,

We all share in this confession,

That we hoped in lovers other than God,

And we were deceived by our idols.

In our time of need,

When we call out to them,

They fail,

They betray,

They do not do what they promised.

Jeremiah warned earlier in Jer. 30,

“All your lovers have forgotten you; they care nothing for you.”

The things we love, and trust, and hope in,

Other than God,

Are not worth it.

In the end,

They all will deceive and betray us.

Slide

So, lament, you unfaithful.

Because lament is to repent.

As we see demonstrated in vs. 20.

“Look, God,”

Jeremiah says, “I am in distress!”

“Understand, God! That I am suffering!”

“My stomach is twisted in knots!”

“My heart is broken!”

Why?

Why are our unfaithful hearts broken?

The verse continues,

“Because...I have been very rebellious...”

It is a painful confession,

But a confession nonetheless.

“My heart is broken,”

“Because I have been unfaithful...”

Biblical lament begs God to see and recognize the enormous distress we are experiencing.

As we confess that we are experiencing it because we are unfaithful.

So, lament, You Unfaithful.

Because lament is to repent!

Slide

After this confession,

Jeremiah appeals to God in vs. 21-22.

His enemies are just as unfaithful.

But notice,

Even in his request for vindication of his enemies,

He still ends with one final confession of his own sins,

His own unfaithfulness,

Makes his heart sick.

Slide

Lamentations is difficult to read.

It reminds us of God’s many warnings,

And that suffering does not have to be forever.

Though we are unfaithful,

We can turn from our sin,

From the idols we love,

And turn back to God in trust.

But if we don’t,

God is just.

He does not treat sin lightly.

This was true since the first words in Genesis,

Through the cries of Lamentations,

And it is still true today.

WE (Paint a picture of the future): Conc.

So, the idea is clear,

Unfaithfulness leads to ruinous consequences.

It destroys each of us individually.

It destroys families.

It destroys churches.

It destroys the world.

God repeatedly warns us of this.

But He also works to spare us from this destruction!

In many ways,

Temporary suffering can bring eternal clarity!

Lamentations shows us,

How when we suffer in this life,

The right posture to take is a pure heart and a contrite spirit.

God has given us Lamentations for our benefit!

At the very least, it is a warning.

We are unfaithful,

God punishes unfaithfulness.

Secondly, it is clear that suffering is inevitable.

So, when you are suffering,

When you find yourself in darkness,

God is saying,

Lament, you unfaithful.

Repent for being unfaithful,

Trust instead, in God’s great faithfulness.

At this time,

I would like to invite the music team.

We are going to close with a song called,

“O, Come All You Unfaithful.”

As we sing,

Listen to the words as an invitation from Christ Himself.

Pray.