Not Normal but Expected

At the end of our discipline, Jesus is waiting.

The family lived in a rented mobile home just outside the city.

There had been reports about the kids to the Department of Family and Children services.

One day they went to the home to take the children.

When the case worker entered the house, there was no furniture.

None.

Not a stick.

Mom was on drugs.

She had sold everything they owned to feed her habit.

It wasn’t that she didn’t love her children, its that the beast inside of her was bigger than anything else in her life.

She cried as her children were taken away.

But the kids.

They screamed.

They wanted their mama.

For those kids, what they lived in was their normal.

It was as normal for them to have a bowl of frosted flakes in an old butter tub while sitting on the floor

As it is for you to have a steak dinner sitting at your dining room table.

It’s what they lived with everyday.

They learned how to survive in that environment.

That was their normal.

I am sad for our kids and their normal.

I remember being a 12 year old boy when Dad had “the talk” with me.

Certain things I’m pretty shy about - that being one of them.

I remember being insanely uncomfortable.

That was my normal.

Now there are parts of our nation that are up in arms because Florida passed a bill banning lessons about sexual orientation in kindergarten through third grade.

I was 12 years old and that discussion mortified me.

What will your 5 year old think?

There is an element in our country who says that this is normal for a 5 year old.

And if you think it’s not, you are wrong.

So they are fighting for the right to override what you want so they can do what they think is “best” for your child.

Immorality has become our normal.

The normal in Jerusalem prior to 586 wasn’t much different from today.

The power elite went from meeting to meeting, dressed to the hilt.

Jeremiah describes them, “Her princes were purer than snow, whiter than milk.”

They wore white garments - but not white like bed sheet white.

Have you ever seen someone wearing white that had some body to it; a kind of warmth to the white?

That’s what he is describing - it was their professional attire.

They were tan and shapely.

“Their bodies were more ruddy than coral, the beauty of their form was like sapphire.”

They ate the best food - “Those who once feasted on delicacies...”

And when they partied, they wore party clothes - “Those who were brought up in purple.”

And you know what?

The common people - loved seeing them and talking about them just like we do celebrities today.

Sure I suspect there were some folks that resented them just like today.

But these people were somebody and all of the other bodies wanted to see and talk to the somebodies and maybe dream of being a somebody themselves one day.

That was normal life.

Where we had been known until recently as a Christian nation, they were a Jewish nation.

Like we went to church, they went to church.

Like we did good deeds for folks, they did good deeds for folks.

One day a week, for at least a part of the day, they and we would thank God for His blessings.

They would hear a message from the preacher and they expected it to make them feel good.

And mostly they did.

You are God’s chosen.

You are a great nation.

God’s blessing is upon us.

God shed His grace on thee.

They talked about what God was doing for them.

But they never talked how they were to live for God.

God sent Jeremiah to warn them - God won’t be patient with you forever - you need to get it together.

He preached for 40 years.

Two generations of children were born - but no one listened.

They persecuted Jeremiah because his sermons didn’t feel good.

Another preacher named Uriah - they killed him for saying the same things.

That’s what normal life looked like then.

Our text is Lamentations 4:1-22.

Open your Bible to the middle.

You’ll probably land on Psalms or Isaiah.

Thumb through Isaiah to Jeremiah and then to Lamentations.

We’re going to do like last week - we’ll read it and comment as we go through it.

I can tell you I’m tired of Lamentations.

I’m tired of destruction.

I want to have my ears tickled - I want to hear something heart warming.

Soul stirring.

But God says no - Lamentations is soul stirring.

Because judgment is coming as sure as the sun came up this morning.

And we’d best be ready because

God is not patient forever

Lamentations 4:1 “How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed! The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street.”

The temple in Jerusalem was a sight to behold.

The facade was covered in gold sheeting.

When the morning sun hit the facade, it acted like a mirror lighting up everything around it.

Travelers would see the city of Jerusalem in the distance and in the middle of the city was this building that looked like it was made out of light.

Solomon used 34 tons of gold to construct the temple and everything in it.

At today’s value, that’s about $2 billion dollars worth of gold.

Think of how proud we are of this building.

Image what we’d say if it was made of solid gold.

The temple had grown to define them.

They were Jewish - they worshipped at this magnificent temple in this magnificent city that no one can touch.

And for the longest time no one could.

The Assyrians had attacked Jerusalem in the early 600’s and they failed.

Jerusalem stood.

Jerusalem was the superpower.

That’s why this was so hard for Jeremiah and for all of the folks left behind.

They were asking the same question I hear us asking now.

How did this happen?

The answer to that question is simple: God abandoned the city.

The Bible is plain: Romans 1 says three times that God “gave them up,” for their immorality, God gave them up.

And this is what it looks like when God does that.

I don’t think we understand just how bad things can get when God removes His hand from his people.

So, how come we didn’t see this coming?

We didn’t see it, because we didn’t want to see it.

Lamentations 4:2 “The precious sons of Zion, worth their weight in fine gold, how they are regarded as earthen pots, the work of a potter’s hands!”

Do you hear that?

They had so much pride in themselves, they were “worth their weight in fine gold.”

But not anymore.

God’s patience had worn out - He “gave them up,” He let them do it their way.

Now their bodies were scattered over the city - discarded just like so many common broken drinking cups.

Lamentations 4:3-5 “Even jackals offer the breast; they nurse their young; but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. The tongue of the nursing infant sticks to the roof of its mouth for thirst; the children beg for food, but no one gives to them. Those who once feasted on delicacies perish in the streets; those who were brought up in purple embrace ash heaps.”

The parents have been so traumatized they’ve forgotten about their children.

Or maybe that’s not fair - forgotten is the wrong word.

They simply don’t notice their children.

Think about it - they’ve just heard the screams of their neighbors.

They’ve watched their friends get cut to pieces.

Maybe seen their own families members die in the most horrendous way possible.

And all the time saying, “This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening.”

But it is happening and it is real.

And their brains are overloaded.

They are hollowed eyed zombies stumbling through the streets.

Embracing trash heaps.

Just last week they wore their party clothes and ate hor d’oervre’s off silver serving platters.

Today, they sift through the dump looking for anything salvageable.

It happened just about that quickly.

Lamentations 4:6 “For the chastisement of the daughter of my people has been greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, and no hands were wrung for her.”

Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of their wickedness.

Homosexuality was rampant and God does not approve of homosexuality so, He destroyed Sodom in an instant.

God punished them for their sins.

And everyone knew it was a just punishment - no one “wrung their hands” for them.

Sodom was wicked and evil and was never going to turn to God - they got what they were asking for.

But Israel would turn back, so instead of destroying Israel, the Lord chastises Israel.

He rebukes Israel severely.

His goal is repentance.

Couldn’t he have done it another way?

No, they weren’t listening.

He loves the people of Jerusalem.

He sent prophets to call them back but they didn’t listen.

So He took action.

God is not patient forever.

That’s my fear right now - in our day.

God is not patient forever.

While we wring our hands and wonder what we can do.

While we fuss about who to vote for and if the voting is fair and should I take a 4th booster shot

Our country is looking more and more like Sodom.

Everything that made sense 3 decades ago has been turned on its head.

Defund the police.

Let criminals walk the streets.

Rioters burn businesses with no repercussions.

Robberies happen in broad daylight.

A former president is persecuted.

This has never happened like this.

And God help us with our sexual morality.

I don’t believe God will wipe us off the map.

But I do believe God will chastise us sorely and the pain is liable to be very great.

Lamentations 4:7-12 “Her princes were purer than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than coral, the beauty of their form was like sapphire. Now their face is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as wood. Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of hunger, who wasted away, pierced by lack of the fruits of the field. The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children; they became their food during the destruction of the daughter of my people. The Lord gave full vent to his wrath; he poured out his hot anger, and he kindled a fire in Zion that consumed its foundations. The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any of the inhabitants of the world, that foe or enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem.”

The “compassionate women” thing - we’re not going into detail about it because there are kids in here and it’s really graphically bad.

But let me say this about that, during extremely hard times, good people find themselves doing things they never dreamed they would or could do.

And that’s what has happened here.

I try to be careful about making far reaching “never” statements.

Before Anna, Ben and Luke came along, I used to cringe at some friends of ours and their kid.

We’d go out to eat on Sunday nights after evening services and their kid would always leave behind a halo of food.

It was on the floor, on the high chair, on the table - and I said I’d NEVER let one of mine do that.

If you’ve had a child, you’ve been blessed with a food halo.

It’s just going to happen - you can’t stop it.

These people are in the worst situation imaginable, and they are doing some of the worst things imaginable.

Things they never dreamed they would do.

And yet, all of this - all of this - is self-inflicted.

Every bit of the horror occurred because the folks said, “God is love. He will always bless us because God is love.”

And they never once, not one time did they consider that they were in a covenant relationship.

When you follow me, I will protect you.

When you wander from me, I will draw you back by whatever means necessary to get your attention.

Lamentations 4:13-16 “This was for the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed in the midst of her the blood of the righteous. They wandered, blind, through the streets; they were so defiled with blood that no one was able to touch their garments. “Away! Unclean!” people cried at them. “Away! Away! Do not touch!” So they became fugitives and wanderers; people said among the nations, “They shall stay with us no longer.” The Lord himself has scattered them; he will regard them no more; no honor was shown to the priests, no favor to the elders.”

You can pay now or you can pay later, but you are always going to pay

So the priests ticked the people’s ears for years.

For at least 40 years because that’s how long Jeremiah preached - but I suspect it was for much longer than that.

The priests did what they did because they didn’t want to pay the price of unpopularity.

They priesthood had become a very lucrative trade.

They hobnobbed with the big-wigs and they enjoyed every minute of it.

In a sense, they became celebrities themselves.

They didn’t want to lose that.

Nobody wants to lose that.

But you can pay now or pay later, but you are always going to pay.

If they had preached truth, they might not have gotten their own TV program, but they might have caused a nation to repent.

And this horror would never have happened.

And a multitude of people would not have died.

1,000’s of moms wouldn’t be traumatized.

1,000’s of dads would still be alive.

If they had preached the truth - but they didn’t.

And when the people found out they had been lied to, well, the priests paid.

Not only were they struggling to survive like everyone else, now no one will have anything to do with them.

No one will help them - but it gets worse.

Now they have to leave Israel and wander around in other countries because “The Lord himself has scattered them.”

The Lord exiled them.

Everywhere they go, they’ll be known for what they did.

They will never be anybody again.

Here’s just another warning teachers - do not take your jobs lightly.

Remember James 3:1

James 3:1 ESV

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

The remnant of Israel lost their possessions.

The false teachers, they lost their possessions, they lost the people they cared for, they lost their land, they lost their reputations, they lost everything.

Politics won’t save us

Lamentations 4:17-20 “Our eyes failed, ever watching vainly for help; in our watching we watched for a nation which could not save. They dogged our steps so that we could not walk in our streets; our end drew near; our days were numbered, for our end had come. Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles in the heavens; they chased us on the mountains; they lay in wait for us in the wilderness. The breath of our nostrils, the Lord’s anointed, was captured in their pits, of whom we said, “Under his shadow we shall live among the nations.””

The help they were watching for was the Egyptians.

They had formed an alliance with them.

They expected them to come to the rescue.

But there would be no political solution.

The Egyptians came up for a minute - but when the heat got hot, they went home.

No political group could solve their problem.

Because their problem isn’t political.

Just like our problem isn’t political.

For those of you who hate Donald Trump, let me just say, $2.00 gasoline.

Yes, Joe Biden’s policies caused us to be paying at least a buck fifty more per gallon.

That’s obnoxious, obscene, immoral really because of how many people it hurts.

But for those of you who love Donald Trump, let me just say, $2.00 gasoline.

Donald Trump is a showman.

He knows how to spin a yarn to engage his audience.

He’ll play that $2.00 a gallon card as long as he can to keep everyone stirred up.

Because he’s a showman and Joe is a politician.

They aren’t going to solve our problem long term because our problem isn’t political.

Our problem is spiritual and it can only be solved one way.

Jesus waits for repentance

Lamentations 4:21-22 “Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz; but to you also the cup shall pass; you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare. The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished; he will keep you in exile no longer; but your iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish; he will uncover your sins.”

Notice the good news: “The punishment of your iniquity… is accomplished.”

It’s as bad as it’s going to get because at this point, you only have one possible solution.

You cry out to God - some of us have been there.

It’s the story of the Bible, over and over and over again.

God blesses.

The people enjoy.

The people get comfortable - then complacent.

Then they start thinking that they are the ones who made it all happen.

So the Lord “gives them up.”

Then we realize what we’ve done and we repent.

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Two last things real quick - for those theologians listening who say that this scripture applies only to Israel and my parallels to the United States are invalid.

Acts 10:34–35 ESV

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

And finally this, if we ignore His call to repent:

Hebrews 2:2–3 (ESV)

For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,

how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?

At the end of our discipline, Jesus is waiting.

Let’s not deny our sin too long.