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All right, well, beautiful singing. So welcome to Red Village Church. I have not met you. My name is Aaron and I’m the preaching pastor here. And glad you’re with us today.
So as you heard from Rob, So we are continuing our study of the book of Lamentations. So if you have a Bible with you, open up to Lamentations chapter four. And if you don’t have a Bible with you, there are pew Bibles scattered throughout. It’s on page 402.
So for our time here, I’m just gonna read the first verse and then I’m gonna pray and then we’ll get to work through the sermon. But we’re gonna work through the entire 22 verses of Lamentations 4. So if you open up your Bible, please keep them open. So we do a style of preaching here called expository preaching, and we like to go verse by verse to try to explain to you what the passage is saying. And so all I’m gonna do is gonna walk us all the way back through the entire of chapter four.
So every Bible open, and please keep it open. Okay, so as mentioned, I’m just going to read verse one for this time and then we’ll pray. So if you want to follow along with me, Lamentations 4. So verse 1 says, how the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed. The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street.
Okay, so that’s God’s word for us this morning. Would you please pray with me?
De God, thank you for this time. Thank you for the book of Lamentations. Lord, I pray for your glory, you bless the preaching of your word. Please help me to be a good communicator of your sacred text, that the congregation would be good listeners. And Lord, I pray that your spirit would be very active in this time, that you’d use this time just to do a great work in us.
Praise God, in Jesus name. Amen. Okay, so the vast majority of moments in life are just kind of that moments. Moments are pretty ordinary, pretty insignificant moments that soon after they happen, like we move by them in ways that they are forgotten. However, there are other moments in life that are not easily forgotten.
Moments that are anything but ordinary. Moments that are very significant, never to be forgotten. Because these moments are life changing moments that can affect every aspect of our life. Now, when it comes to life changing moments, sometimes these life changing moments come to us in the most exciting of ways. We hired maybe at a dream job.
We welcome a child to the world or we adopt a child. We Accomplish some significant goal or milestone, we get married. Among so many other exciting life changing events, where in a moment, life is forever different in the most exciting of ways, and by the way, the greatest of the most and most exciting of all these life changing moments is when a person trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ for the first time. Where they’re born from above, given a new heart, a heart that now beats for God, become a new creation in Christ, where the old has passed away and the new has come, right. There’s nothing more significant, nothing more exciting than when a sinner turns to Jesus for the first time to by faith receive his love and forgiveness.
However, all that being said, I think we know that when it comes to life changing moments, life altering events, far too often they don’t come to us in the most exciting of ways. Rather, probably more commonly, life changing events seem to come to us in the most painful, heartbreaking of ways. Where we receive a phone call of some type of devastating news concerning a loved one, or a doctor gives us a diagnosis that causes our knees to buckle, or some type of tragedy hits in ways that takes everything away from us. We’re in a moment, life is normal and ordinary, but the next moment, as a painful moment arrives instantly, everything changes, where going forward, nothing will be normal or ordinary as it once was. Where for the rest of our life, that painful, life changing moment might cause us to grieve, to carry hurt that never seems to get away from us.
Which I know for some of us here this morning, you know, by personal experience, this type of life changing, painful reality. And you know, like how you will never get over the hurt. It’s not on this side of heaven that it’s always there. Now I say this to you to prime the pump for our sermon today, which is the fourth of five poems that make up the book that we call Lamentations, which is a book written by a poet, most likely Jeremiah, where Jeremiah lamented how quickly everything changed in his life, and not in a positive way, but in the most painful ways, which is brought by life changing events that took place with the fall of the city of Jerusalem, a fall that came by the hands of the evil empire, the Babylonians, but ultimately by the hand of God, who judges people for their unrepentant sins. Now, if you’re visiting with us today, let me catch you up to where we’ve been in our studies, Lamentations.
So I mentioned this book is made up of five chapters where each chapter is actually a poem where the poet Jeremiah detailed what happened when the fall of Jerusalem happened. And not just details as far as, like, historical details, but he communicated to his readers, like, the pain and the heartache that he’s experienced in the aftermath of the fall of Jerusalem. Not just historical details, but the emotional, raw, painful emotion of living with what happened. Now, just a few things I want to mention here just to kind of catch us up to speed. So, first, we call this book Lamentations, because three of the five poems, including our poem today, starts out with the word how, which in the original Hebrew is a word used to communicate lamenting.
Second, the poems and lamentations have a real dirge feel to them, which is a type of poem often used at funerals, which is certainly the mood for the poet as he mourned the death of Jerusalem. So in many ways, the five poems are like funeral poems. Third, the first four poems, including ours today, are structured through the use of an acrostic, which is a style of poetry where the start of each line begins with the next letter of the Alphabet. So in the Hebrew Alphabet, there’s 22 letters. If you look through our passage Today, you see 22 verses.
And so scholars seem to agree that poets use acrostics for multiple purposes, one of which is to communicate like a fullness or a completeness, like we might say using our Alphabet is like, from A to Z, like a fullness. And I do think that’s what the poem is communicating today, a fullness of a complete life change. Fourth, as mentioned, the poems of Lamentations in this, the poet lamented of what took place in Jerusalem and the devastation that took place. And these laments in these poems seem to be like, cathartic for the poet. They’re there to, like, help him process the real emotions that he was that were running through him because of this life changing event, as he’s basically trying to get the emotions out in ways that were like, maybe like we’re bottling up and trying to get him out in ways that he was like, looking to the Lord.
And for us is actually one of the reasons I wanted to work through this book together is actually here. My hope is for this study is that we’ll learn to know or know how to lament. Like, if and when devastating life changes take place in our own lives, for it to be a cathartic outlook and we wrestle with our own real emotions, hopefully wrestling in ways that’s causing us to trust in the Lord more and more deeply trusting, even though we might not fully grasp or understand the reasoning why God would ordain whatever painful reality has come our way. So we’ll talk about this more at the end, but for that, let’s let, Let. Let’s let that be our introduction and we want to look back with me at the text.
Starting verse one, we’re seeing verse, word, the word how just mentioned where we get the word lamentations from. So verse one and two, if you want to take your eyes there says this. How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed. The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street. The precious sons of Zion worth their weight in gold.
How they are regarded as earthen pots, the work of potter’s hands. Now this year, I think the poet is communicating two, maybe three things to us. First, the poem primarily is lamenting how quickly the worship of God at the temple had changed. So the Babylonians, as they came, as they destroyed Jerusalem, they also destroyed the temple of God that Solomon had built, which was a mighty temple that was adorned with gold. But now in the first two verses of our poem, now this gold has grown dim, it’s lost its luster as the temple was destroyed.
Likewise, the priests who ministered at the temple were now absent, which I think is what is being communicated with the holy stones being scattered. So most scholars tend to agree this is referring to a vest that the priest would wear where there’s holy stones on the vest, stones that represented each of the 12 tribes of Israel. So these stones were now scattered as the priests were now absent from their role. Although let me mention, these stones also could be referring to just the stones that make up the temple that are now scattered. Whatever the stones are referring to, the point’s the same.
In the moment, all that the poet knew about the worship of God now changed. Where things felt secure and familiar. Now as the temple was destroyed, all these things were now absent from him. Second, I think the poet is also mentioning how quickly God’s people went from being viewed as precious to him in terms of being blessed to be in his presence. So now, as the destruction of Jerusalem came, it was if for the poet that these people of God were now like earthly pots of little to no value.
Earthly pots that were like easily tossed aside, which no doubt had the poet, the people of Jerusalem, struggling how in a life changing moment, they moved from feeling like very precious to the Lord, to now feeling as if they do not matter, as if they had no value. Which by the way, if you had some type of painful reality hit your life, painful life changing reality. Like you, you know these thoughts, you know These feelings, you know, the pain of these questions. We begin to wonder if, like maybe God stopped loving you or stopped caring about you. That’s actually the nagging question, the nagging feeling of the poet.
Third, I do wonder, at least in part, that the poet here is also hinting at the financial crash that came to Jerusalem as the city fell. And he certainly does this later in the poem. But I think this year I do wonder if the financial crash is part of what he’s communicating at the start of this poem. As the laborers who once were worth their weight in gold, now we’re nothing more than cheap pottery. As the city’s entire financial structure had collapsed, making the workforce almost like of no value, no type of financial payment can now be given out, you know, for us.
In the first two verses of this poem, right from the start, the poet is setting for his readers a real tone of despair, of heartache, of pain, where in a moment things that felt so secure to the poet now seemingly were all gone. Starting with the worship of God at the temple. I mentioned previous sermons. I think, let me mention this again here, for the city of Jerusalem. Of all the unexpected things that taken place as the city fell easily at the top of the list, they would have been most surprised by the destruction of the temple.
Like this huge, mighty temple where God’s presence would dwell. Like never in a million years would God people, God’s people, imagine that this life changing event would happen there. Like never in their wildest dream that they thought the temple would be destroyed. Yet that’s exactly what happened in the life changing event of the temple being destroyed. This is, we see throughout the poem how this affects like every part of life which caused the poet to lament.
Okay, let’s keep going. Verse 3. As life drastically changed in Jerusalem, the poet lamented that even jackals offer the breast as they nurse their young. But the daughters of my people have become cruel, like the ostriches in the wild, which ostriches have a negative reputation for, like neglecting its young. And for the poet, this is what God’s people have become to their own children.
Cruel, neglectful. In fact, so neglectful in verse four that the tongue of the nursing infant sticks to the roof of its mouth for thirst and the children beg for food, but no one gives it to them. This year I do think speaks towards the financial decline of the city. The parents were just not able to provide for the children that once did. But I think what even more this is speaking towards is this a sharp moral decline that was taking Place where in such sharp moral decline, the city stopped caring for its own children, which my guess is also seeming unlikely for God’s people before its fall to think this would ever happen.
Of course, we always take care of our children. Yet very quickly, this is where they’re at, where the life changing moment affects them in such a way that there’s a sharp moral decline. By way the sharp moral decline. I think this is running downhill from the destruction of the temple. As the worship of God was affected, naturally morals were affected as well.
I also mentioned when life does not go the way we hope, this is actually a very easy trap for us to fall to, where we compromise more and more of our morals. We find ourselves doing things that we never imagined we would do. Verse 5. Further speaking of the financial decline that came through this life changing event. We read those who once feasted on delicacies like the rich, now we’re perishing in the streets, dying of hunger.
Those who once were brought up in purple, which is a color of wealth and privilege, royalty. Now we’re embracing having to sit in ash heaps. For us, we know like rags to riches stories. This is the opposite. This was riches to rags.
That happened basically overnight as a life changing event moved people from like the penthouse to the poor house. Verse 6, which is the poet now lamenting his thoughts and all the sharp, drastic life change that took place. He wrote, for the chastisement of the daughter of my people has been greater than the punishment of Sodom, which is overthrown in a moment. And no hands were wrung for her, meaning as bad as it was for Sodom, who God judged in such a way that he rained down sulfur and fire for the poet, he felt what just happened to Jerusalem was worse because for Sodom, as judgment came, it was so swift, none survived. Now I’m gonna have to live.
In the aftermath of the devastation. For the poet, those who survived the fall of Jerusalem, he lamented that this actually was worse. It was worse because somehow they now had to continue to live on the other side of this life changing moment.
Whereas the poet tried to now live, he did so with his hands wrung this great pain, great hurt, great anxiety. For me this week I was thinking about the book of Ecclesiastes in this verse here, this book that wrestles with like the cynicism of life, where the cynicism of life, the author, most likely Solomon, wrote that the day of death is better than the day of life. As the day of death. One doesn’t have to live with all the Painful hurtful realities that life might bring. That’s like the lament of the poet here in this verse that this life changing event is almost like too hard to bear, too hard to now try to live with.
Verse 7. In this life changing moment for the princes of Jerusalem, who once were being viewed as like being purer than snow, whiter than milk, life had changed so much. Now their bodies were more like ruddy than coral and their beauty that once was like sapphire. But now. Verse 8 Now their faces was blacker than soot, which now further speaks to the poverty that they’re living with as this financial crisis hit.
Like even the princes were dirty and filthy, as all the luxuries that they lived with the hence their physical appearance were all taken from them. Now we’re like having to resort to living in the streets. Furthermore, in verse 8 want to take Isaiah as they live in the streets, the physical appearances of the prince changed so much. They were not even recognized anymore because their skin had shriveled on their bones and has become as dry as wood. This here I think not only does this simply point out the physical decline the former princes, the financial crisis or decline that affected even the princes, they also think this is pointed to the overall political decline in Jerusalem.
Where before the fall of Jerusalem the princes were held in high regard, there’s source of like political national pride. Now the princes almost become like a disgrace, a source of shame, a source of embarrassment. Keep going. Verse 9 which further speaks the life almost being better to not make it almost being better to not make it to the other end of the life changing event. The poet wrote.
It says happier were the victims of the sword like those who died by the sword, than the victims who survived the sword but now faced hunger as they waste away, pierced by the lack of the fruits of the field. By the way, I should point out here that this also is a very real common thought for those who live on the other side of this negative life changing event, where not everyone comes through the event with them. Pain is almost like too difficult to endure. So you begin to like wonder. Maybe it would have been better, easier if it didn’t survive.
Friends, that’s part of the poet’s lament here. Verse 10 it further speaks to the moral decline that quickly took place. We read at the hands of the once compassionate women have boiled their own children. They become food during destruction of the daughter of my people. Which not only is gross and just incredibly morbid, but this indicates how desperate things have become as the city fell, how desperate the financial Ruin how it was, how desperate it was.
The financial desperation like basically smashed any type of moral compass. Verse 11 of the poem. The Lord gave his full vent to his wrath. He poured out his hot anger and he kindled the fire in Zion that consumed its foundations. It further speaks to God’s full justice.
We talked about quite a bit in our study of Lamentations. Verse 12. The justice is so full that kings of the earth did not believe it, nor did any of the inhabitants of the earth. That the fuller enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem, meaning not only God’s people think something like this could never happen. Never in a million years could this happen.
No one, not even the worst enemy would expect that this type of life changing event could take place. I mean, everyone was in shock by what happened in Jerusalem. It is so shocking. It stopped like everyone in their tracks if they heard what had taken place. Whoever is keep going to the poem.
This should not have been shocking. It should not have been surprising. Because in verse 13 the poet understood that this full justice of God that flipped life on its head came because the sins of the false prophets of Jerusalem. False prophets that God’s people were like entertaining and listening to false prophets that they’re buying into. In addition, in the poem, this full justice of God came because the iniquities of the priest who shed in the midst of her the blood of the righteous, meaning the priest, were committing like grievous sins against blameless.
Yet we’re being unchecked by the city. And because of these things, it should not have been a surprise that Jerusalem fell. God’s people should have known judgment was coming. In fact, in plenty of other places in scripture, God explicitly told his people this would happen if they would continue to sin, if they would not repent. So say it again.
In this poem, this should have not been surprising. God’s people were reaping that what they sowed because the prophets and the priests were Left unchecked. Verse 14. As judgment came, the prophets and the priests, even them, were now left wandering blind through the streets where they are so defiled with blood no one is able to touch their garments. Because these once popular religious leaders have become such a disdain.
Verses 15 through 17 we read how the people cry out to them, away, unclean, away, away. Do not touch. For the people, these once popular religious figures became like fugitives and wanderers. Where the people said among the nations, they shall stay with us no longer. As the Lord Himself had scattered them, where he regarded them no more, where no honor was shown to the priests, no favor to the elders.
Meaning as everything changed so quickly for God’s people, the false leaders who they once held in such high regard had now become a disdain to them and they were exposed for who they really were. They weren’t able to hide behind the appearance of godliness they once were able to give.
This week, as I was thinking about this portion of the poem, my mind went to like various celebrity leaders within Christianity who for a time were able to like drum up loyal following. People are buying every book they published, going to every conference they speak at, listening to every podcast they produced, only for in time the curtain to be pulled back where they’re exposed for not being the person they presented themselves to be, where they fall into great disgrace and shame. As I thought about this, I also thought, what happens to the loyal followers as the curtains pull back on their heroes and how at times this has led the followers to have like a real crisis of their own faith, where they had such loyalty, almost blind loyalty, that the fall of their favorite celebrity sent shockwaves throughout their faith where they began to question everything. I think that’s almost a sense you get here in the poem. Exposing the false prophets, a sinful priest.
This is like hard for the poet to process. Of those who we once respected so much, now we’re being avoided, now held in no regard. Verse 17, Isaiah, the poet testified more laments, writing that our eyes failed ever watching vainly for help, and are watching, we watch for a nation which could not save meaning. As Jerusalem is under attack, as this life changing event is taking place, leaving them devastated. The people of the city kept like looking out on the horizon, looking out with the hopes that some other nation would come and perhaps an allied nation would come to their defense to fight alongside of them to push back the enemy.
In historical context, seems like Jerusalem is specifically hoping and looking for the powerful Egyptians to come to their aid, to come to push back their mutual enemy, the Babylonians. However, as Jerusalem kept looking on the horizon, no help would come, which we can imagine how discouraging this must have been, at least for a bit. They had some hope, some optimism that they could just hang on maybe a little bit longer. Eventually Egypt or some other nation would come, they’d get the help that they need. As mentioned, Egypt never came.
Rather, in verse 18 of the poem, what happened? The Babylonians dogged our steps so we could not walk in the streets. As people began to slowly accept their fate, that help was not going to come, that our rescue is not in the cards. The poet Wrote that their fate, that their end was drawing near as their days were numbered and their end had come, that again there’d be no escape, no help, no counter attack to push the Babylonians back. No slowing down, no preventing this life changing event from happening.
Instead, God’s people began to accept the outcome of their defeat. I trust you know, if we go through the stages of grief that come with life change. Acceptance is often viewed as the final stage. This is where the poet is here recognizing and accepting. Verse 19.
The pursuers were swifter than the eagles in the heavens as they chased them on the mountains, as they laid wait for them in the wilderness. For us this is a pretty lonely, discouraging, life changing reality to accept where you realize you can’t wait on your own, where there’s no help going to come to your aid. Rather, fate has been sealed. No more bargaining, no more denying, just a really hard, painful acceptance that the poet now had to live with. Verse 20.
If you take your eyes there, so further accepting the life changing fate, the poet wrote, the breath of our nostrils, the Lord’s anointed was captured in their pits, of whom we said, under his shadow we all live among the nations. This here, this Lord’s anointed. Anointed. This is not talking about the promised Christ, the Messiah that was to come. But most scholars tend to agree that the Lord’s anointed here, this is a pope referring to the anointed king of Judah named Zedekiah, who is a corrupt king in Judah who had a real lack of morals where he was more interested in saving his own neck than protecting his people.
So you can read more about him in Jeremiah 39 and Jeremiah 52. You can see when the Babylonians attacked for Zedekiah, rather than staying behind the fight, rather than staying behind to try to protect his people, Zedekiah, he fled. But as he fled he eventually was caught. And as he was caught, Babylonians also captured Zedekiah’s own sons and his officials who they killed right before Zedekiah’s own eyes, which they did right before actually plucking out Zedekiah’s eyes. They threw him into prison where he would die as a prisoner for God’s people.
In this poem, lament, I think this is just further speaking to the political failure was all taking place as they lamented the person, the very person who was anointed by God to protect them failed mightily as he completely abandoned them. Finally, where today’s poem ends verses 21 through 22, we do get to see A little bit of hope Here the Paul has a little bit of hope in the midst of all the life changing pain that he is now living with. Verse 21, the poet found hope that the fate of Jerusalem in time would be the same fate for the enemies as justice would also come for them. As the poet wrote with more like a tone of mockery in verse 21 Rejoice. Be glad, O daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz.
But to you also the cup shall pass and you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare. Now in this verse, Edom was one of the long standing enemies of Israel, but they also are one of the enemy or the nations who refused to help Israel in their time of need. And then to make it worse, it appears that Israel even blamed Edom for what happened to them. As Enum seemingly exposed Israel to this attack from the Babylonians. The rejoicing of Edom as mentioned, just carries a mocking tone.
So in this verse 21 here this rejoicing is almost like rejoice while you still can, because soon you’re not going to rejoice anymore. Because the cup of this verse is a cup of judgment that was coming for them. For the poet, he found some hope, some solace here. Knowing that Edom would not get away with he just did that how they contributed in this life changing event that they would not get away with it. But justice was coming for them as well.
That indeed God would make all things right. He would punish the wicked. Verse 22 where the poem ends, the further hope of the poet hope that God would one day restore his people back to himself. That he would make this painful life changing reality also right in the poem. As a punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished.
Here’s the hope. He will keep you in exile no longer meaning as the intended purpose of God were complete, God would fully restore his people back to himself. But in contrast in the poem, your iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish, he will uncover your sins. So again this is part of the poet’s hope that in time another life changing event would come. But this time for God’s people, this would be a most exciting life changing event.
Where as mentioned, God would make all things right. Where in the end he would bless and restore his people, where they’ll be kept in exile no longer as he judges those who reject Him. In scripture we follow storyline Scriptures. This life changing reality that the poet hoped in came as God’s people return to the land from exile where they rebuilt Jerusalem, including the Temple. You can read more about that in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
Okay, now for us to close the sermon. Let me do so by just giving you three encouragements that I hope you can hold on to when painful life changing moments come your way. I know for some of us here this morning, painful life changing moments is already something that you’re having to live with and hope these actually be encouragement to you as well as you live on this side of the life changing moment. So first, let painful life changing moments lead you to lament. Now, I mentioned this in previous sermons, lamentations I mentioned in today’s introduction, but I want to mention again because of how important I think this is.
Friends, when painful realities come our ways, listen, we know they have a way of like grabbing our emotions, but we don’t know what to do, at least not often. We don’t know what to do with the emotions. And so often we can fall in two sides of the ditch where we either try to deny or suppress our emotions as if they’re wrong to have emotions or, or we let our emotions like run wild or we base everything on our emotions and neither side is actually helpful because in the end neither side is letting our emotions, particularly painful emotions, take us to the Lord. And friends. In the scriptures, that’s what laments are designed to do, is to take our real emotions that we’re wrestling with, particularly our emotions filled with hurt and pain, and let those emotions, let them take us to run to the Lord.
Friends. That’s what the poet is modeling for us yet again in this fourth poem. He’s using his motions that came through this most painful life, challenging reality to lament, to lament in ways that he was taking his pains to the Lord. And friends, as life changing moments come our way, may we do the same where we’re real, honest, raw with our emotions in ways that our emotions are leading us to the Lord. Not that we always get the answers of why when we go to the Lord, why the Lord allowed ordained life changing moments to occur.
But we can go to him and go to him knowing that he cares. We can lament in ways of hope that it is cathartic to us. We can go to him and lament in ways, hopefully it’s causing us to deeper trust in the Lord and with whatever painful reality we’re trying to endure. Bible Liberty he’s also mentioned this lamenting of painful realities, not just a model we see in this book of lamentations, but this actually is the Model we see in our Lord Jesus Christ remember the night that he was betrayed. He was betrayed by a friend who turned Jesus over to his enemies through a kiss.
Our Lord lamented with real raw emotion to his Heavenly Father. If there’s any other way for this cup of judgment, this cup that he’s about ready to endure on the cross, is there any other way for it to pass then on the cross with more real raw emotion as the cup of judgment did fall on Jesus as he stood in the place of sinners to take on the punishment of sin, Jesus lamented, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Friends, if Jesus lamented, so should we. Second, let painful life changing moments just expose how fleeting life can be. Life really is a breath.
Without trying to be morbid here, I think it’s really important for us to remember how fleeting life can be. It’s important to be mindful how fleeting life can be because it gives us perspective, perspective on things that actually matter. And I think it also exposes maybe some false hopes, some false securities that we might be tempted to trust in, to put our hope in. Just think back with me throughout the text and how many potential false hopes, false securities were taken from Jerusalem, from the poet in a moment. They had their religious stability shaken as the temple fell, the religious leaders exposed.
They had financial security like ripped apart for them. They had political stability fall like even their moral fabric fell apart. While none of these things are wrong in themselves, in fact, these can and should be good right things to us. But as you know, sometimes even good right things have a way of becoming like idols to us. We’re like hoping in these things, trusting in these things, putting our security in these things, rather than in the Lord, rather than trusting in Him.
So friends, as life changing realities come our way that seemingly take everything from us, let that remind us as how fleeting life can be. And within that, let us remind us that our only hope, our only hope is in the Lord. He is the only sure and steady anchor of our soul. All other things in this life can and will fall apart. They can and will prove to be fleeting in an ever changing, fleeting world.
The Lord is our only constant. He’s the only one we can count on. He’s the only one that we can hope in. This is the last thing, just the good news here. Third, let painful life change realities, lead you to Jesus Christ, the very one who’s the same yesterday, today and forever.
The one we actually can hope in, we can trust in. We can hope and trust him even in the most painful and hopeless life changing events that we might have to endure. Friends, let life changing, painful realities lead to Jesus Christ. Because he is the One who promises indeed he will make all things right, which he will do when he comes to judge the living and the dead. Whereas our Lord returns the wicked.
They will be punished as their sins are exposed. They will not get away with whatever wicked deeds they may have done. But as we know, as the Lord Jesus Christ comes back, not only is he going to judge the wicked, but he’s going to restore his people back to Himself where His people will no longer be exiles. He’s going to be ushered into a new and better Jerusalem that is to come. Where forever and ever our worship of the Lord Jesus Christ will be secure.
As he’s the one who rules and reigns as our great king and our great priest. The one who will never fail us. Where forever and ever will be hidden safely in the shadow of his wings. As is mentioned, it was on the cross where Lord Jesus Christ, the true temple, was actually tore down to take down, take on the punishment of the sins of his people. To bear the full weight of God’s wrath and God’s anger that is that burns over sin.
All that was poured out on Jesus Christ as he drank the bitter cup where Jesus Christ died and was buried. But according to his word, on third day, the temple that is the body of the Lord Jesus Christ was rebuilt. As the Lord Jesus Christ rose again from the dead and and as he rose again from the dead, he is offering life changing forgiveness of sin. And he’s offering his life changing love, joy and peace to all who by faith come to him. Including all here today.
If you by faith come to Jesus Christ, you will be forgiven. You will find his love and his joy and his peace. Lord Jesus Christ will change your life in the most exciting of ways. Where you can experience his love and joy and peace even in the midst of the most painful realities that can fill this life. Friend, you will even more experience this love, joy and peace in this life that is to come.
This life that is to come. The Lord promises to dry every painful tear that you might shed in this life. As he heals us of all our pain, all of our hurt church in this life that’s stained in sin. It’s filled with so much brokenness. There will be and continue to be awful, painful, life changing events that we’re going to have to endure that rock like everything that we know.
But please take heart. Scripture is clear that in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye. Our Lord returned for his people. And when our Lord returns, he will take us by the hand and lead us into the eternal Jerusalem.
And as we live on that side of his return, all we will know, all we will know is love, joy and peace. Our friends, as we wait for the day to come, please do let whatever painful life changing reality that comes your way. Please not only allow that. Let that to allow you to lament, but let that painful life changing reality cause you to look with eager anticipation to the horizon. Because unlike what happened for the people of Jerusalem in this poem who looked to the horizon and no help came the promise of scripture for his people, those who are eagerly waiting his return, the Lord will come and he will make all things right.
Let’s pray.
Lord, thank you for Jesus.
Lord, I pray that this morning you help us all to put our hope and our trust in him.
Even in the most painful life changing realities that I know some of us here are walking in.
And Lord, you are good.
Thank you just for the promise that one day you will make all things right. Pray this on Jesus name, Amen.