A Road Map To Grace
Notes
Transcript
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Grace is unmerited favor. This sermon wraps up the lament series as we look at all we have learned as a road map leading us to cry out to God, and to wait for and plea for Him to restore us.
Remember how we spoke earlier about continuing to come to God in prayer. This once again is doing just that. We see Jeremiah boldly bringing his concerns before God.
Remember, O LORD
Remember, O LORD
v.1
Recounting the pains that you are going through. We want to “hush the recital of sorrow. However, restoration doesn’t come to those who live in denial.”
We keep turning to the Lord in prayer. Recounting our suffering and asking for God’s strength.
We are bringing the suffering we experience before the Lord, and asking for Him to bless us, to restore us.
In scripture, when we see the words “the Lord remembered,” it indicates a change that is about to take place.
God hasn’t forgotten you, it’s important to note that, this is a statement of action.
Genesis 8:1
But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.
God remembers Noah
So He causes the waters to subside.
Exodus 2:24
And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
God heard their groaning.
There was a cry raising to the heights of heaven.
God remembered.
He prepared to take action on the behalf of His people.
Numbers 10:9
And when you go to war in your land against the adversary who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, that you may be remembered before the Lord your God, and you shall be saved from your enemies.
God instructs the people to make silver trumpets, one of the purposes of these trumpets was a call to war.
But when they blew them, they were asking for the blessing of the Lord for the fight at hand.
When Jeremiah is asking for God to remember, this is a call for God to intervene on their behalf.
When you are suffering.
Do not ignore the pain, bury it deep down within and believe that you can be strong enough to overcome.
Bring those complaints to the Lord.
Then, we ask for the Lord to intervene on our behalf.
Remember us in our state of weakness.
The Lord Reigns
The Lord Reigns
v.19
Disaster does fall upon us, but that doesn’t mean that God is not in control.
Daniel 1:1-2
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand....
Jerusalem was given over to Nebuchadnezzar by the Lord.
This was for punishment. Remember that the Lord disciplines those whom He loves. If you are His, and you are living incorrectly, you will be disciplined.
It’s not always becasue of punishment that we go through trouble.
Job 1:12
And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
We live in a broken world that Satan is active in.
Satan brought disaster on Job.
But before he was allowed to do so, he had to get permission from the almighty one.
Genesis 50:20
We remember, what others use for evil, God uses for good.
He can do this becasue He is the one who reigns.
If God allowed it, which He did. And we believe God is good, which He is. Then we must believe that God is using this to shape us. He will bring us through the trial.
Knowing that God allowed it, means that He is strong enough to save us from it, and that He has a plan for it.
God loves you. Look to Him, he will bring you through.
Restore Us
Restore Us
v.21
Notice, the work of restoration is done by God.
We are commanded to repent
Ezekiel 33:19
And when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he shall live by this.
The wicked needs to turn from his wickedness.
You cannot continue in your sin and say that it’s becasue God hasn’t granted repentance.
Jeremiah 31:18
I have heard Ephraim grieving, ‘You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like an untrained calf; bring me back that I may be restored, for you are the Lord my God.
Who is the one who does the leading? It’s God. He is the one who brings us to the point of repentance.
We are called to make a decision, we are commanded to repent.
However, left to our “free will,” we would never choose God.
There is no one good, no not one, no one seeks God. All of us have turned away. Romans 3:10
God, by his grace grants to us the ability to repent.
He does this by changing our hearts, our desires.
By doing so, we desire to repent.
The cry from Jeremiah is that though we are going through so much turmoil and heartache, that by God’s sovereign grace, we would be restored.
This isn’t a call to pull yourself up by your boot straps and stand on your own two feet.
This is an understanding that we can’t deal with the pain on our own, and a request for the God who has steadfast love towards His people, to lead us through the valley, and to restore to us the joy of our salvation.
We are to call out to God to in the midst of our pain. To bring our frustrations to Him.
But we recognize, that He reigns, not us.
We continue to give our pain, our frustrations over to Him, and ask Him to restore us, to lead us through the turmoil in our lives.
When Hebrews tells us that Jesus is the founder of or our faith. It means that He is the one who put that spark in us.
We love Him, because He first loved us.
When Hebrews says He is the perfecter of our faith. That means He is the one who brings us through the trials.
As we look to Him, our faith grows.
He restores us, and like purified gold, our faith is more majestic and beautiful.
When you lament, turn to the Lord, ask Him to restore you.
Our road map through pain.
We recount our suffering and frustrations to the Lord.
We ask the Lord to take action, and to bring us through.
We recognize that He is the king of all. He is has a plan for and through our suffering.
Look to the Lord for restoration.
