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Lamentations: A City's Cry from Ruin to Redemption - Lamentations 1
March 14, 2025 · 15 min
Walk with us through the acrostic poetry of Lamentations, drawing lessons of hope in suffering, as seen in Jeremiah's cries.
Series Stand on the Word - Video On Demand March 14, 2025 · 15 min · Stand on the Word - Video On Demand
Walk with us through the acrostic poetry of Lamentations, drawing lessons of hope in suffering, as seen in Jeremiah's cries. ...more Show the full description Show less Walk with us through the acrostic poetry of Lamentations, drawing lessons of hope in suffering, as seen in Jeremiah's cries.
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Lamentations: A Cry of Sorrow and Hope 0:10 Good morning. Welcome to Stand on the Word. Thanks for joining me this morning. Alright. The sun is coming up. It's gonna be a great day. Alright. We're gonna continue today with the writings of Jeremiah, but in a new0:21 book. We're beginning the book of Lamentations, which means to cry out loud. Verse 16, for these things I weep, my eyes flow with tears for a comforter is far from me, ones who revive my0:33 spirit. My children are desolate for the enemy has prevailed. You can you can just feel, the grief in Jeremiah's words. Now unlike the book of Jeremiah, Lamentations0:45 is not a book of prophecies laying out future events, but it's actually a book expressing sorrow and grief over the fulfillment of the prophecies that Jeremiah had given in the0:57 book of Jeremiah. Now this is a very short book, 5 chapters, and it's believed to have been written in 5 86, 5 85 BC right after the destruction of Jerusalem. And this was before1:09 Jeremiah was taken by force to Egypt by the remnant there. The book is written in poetic form. Alright. That's the style. First 4 chapters are written in a manner that we've seen before, especially in the Psalms,1:21 in the form of an acrostic. The, each this each verse begins with, a word whose first letter is in successive order of the 22 letters of1:33 the Hebrew alphabet, except for chapter 3 where there are 3 verses for each of the letters of the alphabet, and it's written in the style of a funeral dirge. So it's it's1:45 solemn, as it is being written. And it's heavy, as you will see, but there's even in the midst of this, we're gonna see this, especially in chapter 3, the hope that is, is in this1:57 book. Now according to Jewish tradition, Jeremiah composed Lamentations just outside the North Wall of Jerusalem, where I was at recently. And it's a place now called Jeremiah's2:09 Grotto. The cave is under the knoll that is called Golgotha, the hill on which the cross, of Jesus stood believed to have, where that has believed to have taken place.2:21 As, doctor Henry Haley stated, quote, thus the suffering prophet wept where later the suffering savior died. Now as I was as I mentioned, as I was in Jerusalem,2:33 just about a week and a half ago, looking at portions of the ruins of the walls of the destruction of the city in 80 70, and then, you know, at that same time finishing the book of Jeremiah,2:45 it made this, more than just a story from scripture. I mean, it just really came alive. It was a vivid remember, a a reminder rather, of both the justice and the2:57 mercy of God. And we see that here in Lamentations as well. Now each chapter continues the same theme of lamenting the horrors of the destruction of the city. So identifying a unique emphasis3:09 in each chapter is not necessarily obvious because it it really is all 1, but here here's how I would break down the 5 chapters. Number 1, a desolate city because of disobedience. Number3:21 2, chapter 2, the lord has done this thing, clear recognition of where where this came from. Number 3, there is hope in the suffering. Chapter 3 is is is a it's a long chapter, but it's3:33 a great chapter. Chapter 4, the reality of sin, and chapter 5, tomorrow doesn't have to be like today. There can be hope for tomorrow. Alright. Let's begin verse 1, chapter3:44 1. How lonely sits the city that was full of people, how like a widow has she become. She who was great among the nations, she who was a princess among the provinces,3:57 has become a slave. She weeps bitterly in the night with tears on her cheeks. Among all her lovers, she has none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her. They have become her enemies.4:09 A city that was at 1 time bustling with activity was now sitting almost empty except for a few stray animals, a few peasants left behind, and looters from surrounding areas4:21 combing through the smoldering debris and the stench of death hung over the ruins of the city. It had to have been horrible. It had to have been horrible. Verse 3, Judah has gone4:33 into exile because of affliction and hard servitude. She dwells now among the nations, the dispersion there, but finds no resting place. Her pursuers4:44 have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress. The roads to Zion mourn. For none come to the festival. All her gates are desolate. Her priests groan. Her virgins have been afflicted, and4:56 she herself suffers bitterly. Everything changed overnight. They just thought it would continue to be the same. Nothing would ever happen. And and that's that's really the plague of mankind that that5:08 they cannot see beyond today and the consequences of decisions and actions and the rejection of god's truth. Her foes have become the head. Her enemies prosper because of the lord.5:20 Listen to this. Because the lord has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions. Her children have gone away captives before the foe. Recognition right here. God did it, and5:32 it was because of their sins. Now we're gonna see this in several verses in the first chapter. Jeremiah knew precisely what the cause of destruction was because he had warned the people for nearly 405:44 years. Now we've read repeatedly through the prophets that god gives ample warning. God is long suffering as as Peter wrote in second Peter chapter 3 verse 9, a verse we've looked at before. The Lord is5:56 not slack concerning his promise as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But do not6:08 take god's patience. Right? Be very, very we we need to be very clear on this. Do not take or mistake God's patience for affirmation or indifference toward sin.6:20 As James wrote, mercy triumphs over judgment. See, that's the nature of God. God is patient. God wants us to repent. He doesn't wanna judge. He doesn't wanna punish. He wants us to be in6:32 fellowship with him. I look at verse but but, again, just because you and this is a this is a both individually and collectively as society, sometimes mistake6:44 that we we do something and nothing happens. There's not an immediate consequence, and so we do it again. And we need to realize that god is6:56 giving us space to repent and return to him. It doesn't mean he's affirming or he's going to forget. It just means he's giving us an opportunity to repent. Verse 8, Jerusalem sinned grievously.7:08 Therefore, she became filthy. All who honored her despised her, for they have seen her nakedness. She herself groans and turns her face away. Her uncleanness was in her skirts. She took7:20 no thought of her future. Therefore, her fall is terrible. She has no comforter. Oh, lord, behold my affliction for the enemy has triumphed. Verse 10, the enemy the enemy has7:32 stretched out his hands over all her precious things for she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary, those whom you forbade to enter those whom you forbade to enter her congregation. The7:44 temple, the place that more than anything else gave them as a nation their identity, the place that they ritualistically trusted in. It was defiled and7:56 it was destroyed. We we saw this in the judgment of, all the nations in the, in the book of Jeremiah that they were judged by God. Anything other than the 1 true god in which they8:07 had placed their trust was destroyed, the false gods, their economy, the military. And this would the the temple had become a religion. They were focusing their hope on8:19 the this edifice, this structure, and not god himself. As the word says, blessed is a nation whose god is the lord. Verse 11, all her people groan as they search for bread.8:31 They trade for their their they trade their treasures for food to revive their strength. Look, oh lord, and see, for I am despised. Now Jeremiah verbalizes the anguish8:43 of Jerusalem and the nation. Right? He's kind of speaking for the people, for the city, for the nation. Is it nothing for you, all who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my8:55 sorrow, which was brought upon me, which the lord inflicted on the day of his fierce anger. From on high, he sent fire into my bones. He made it descend. He spread a net for my feet. He turned me9:07 back. He has left me stunned, faint all the day. My transgressions were bound in a yoke by his hand. They were fastened together. They were set upon my neck. He calls my strength to fail.9:18 The lord gave me into the hands of those whom I cannot withstand. The lord rejected all my mighty men in my midst. He summons an assembly against me to crush my young men. The9:30 lord has trodden, as in a wine press, the virgin daughter of Judah. For these things, I weep. My eyes flow with tears, for a comforter is far from me. 1 to revive my spirit. My children are9:42 desolate, for the enemy has prevailed. He is speaking. He he's verbalizing what the nation is experiencing. Zion stretches out her hands, for there is none to comfort her. The9:54 lord has commanded against Jacob that his neighbor should be his foes. Jerusalem has become a filthy thing among them. The lord is in the right, for I have rebelled against10:06 his word. But hear, all you peoples, and see my suffering, my young women and my young men have gone into captivity. And, again, the prophet points to the10:18 source of their destruction. Verse 19, I called to my lovers, but they deceived me. My priest and elders perished in the city while they sought food to revive their strength. Look, oh lord, for I am in distress. My10:29 stomach churns. My heart is wrung within me because I have been very rebellious. In the street, the sword bereaves. In the house, it is like death. You10:41 know, all the distractions and the competing interest have gone. Alright? They're all gone, and reality has set in. We've know we this is this is what10:52 Jeremiah is is saying. We've neglected the things that matter. You know, how powerful it would be if we lived with this understanding and inoculated11:04 ourselves from that which leads to this destruction rather than to discover it after we have to sift through the ashes of our lives. I mean, if we could live with the understanding of god's word, yielding to his word,11:16 that's why he gives us his word so clearly of how to live. We think, oh, it's it's restrictive. It's keeping us from having fun. No. God is trying to keep us from going down this path of destruction.11:28 And then on the backside of this as we sift through the the ashes of our lives, we say, wow. I I I I wish we would have yielded I would have yielded to the11:39 lord. Now these final 2 verses look forward to the day that Jeremiah previously prophesied, and that is Babylon's destruction. Right? They were the ones that God used. They were the11:51 instrument, but God is saying, alright, your day is coming. Look at verse 21. They heard my groaning, yet there is no 1 to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble. They are12:03 glad that you have done it. You have brought the day you announced. Now let them be as I am. Let all their evil doing come before you and deal with12:15 them as you have dealt with me because all of my transgressions, for my groans are many and my heart is faint. You see, those who took joy12:27 in either being the instrument of God's judgment upon this disobedient children, this disobedient nation, or those who were, as we've seen in the judgment of some of these other nations in Jeremiah,12:39 they were cheering it on, well, they will find themselves the recipient of God's wrath as well. This is why, you know, we we need to be praying for those around us12:51 and even for those who oppose us. We shouldn't rejoice as Proverbs says when our enemy falls. We want all people, ourselves included, to repent and receive13:03 god's grace. Father, we thank you for your word. And, Lord, as we as we read continue to read through Jeremiah's words as he laments the13:15 destruction of the city that came because of the sin, the willful sin and disobedience of the people, lord. He lord, you can feel and sense the grief and the13:27 agony. But, lord, also, just a recognition that had we had they done it differently, the outcome would have been differently. Lord, help us to see. You warn very clearly the consequences of our13:39 actions. Lord, may we choose to yield to you to obey you through the power of the holy spirit. May we, as Jeremiah said in in the book of Jeremiah, amend your ways in your doings. And so, father, I13:50 pray that each of us, through the holy spirit and through your word, would examine our lives and yield ourselves completely and totally to you. For we pray this in Jesus'14:02 name. Amen. Alright. Thanks for joining me this morning. Until next time, keep standing on the word.14:11 Today's study comes from the stand on the word bible reading plan available for free at f r c dot o r g slash bible. By following along in just a few minutes a day, you14:23 can read through the entire Bible in just 2 years. Learn more and request the free reading guide at frc dot org slash bible.In this video 0:00 Lamentations: A Cry of Sorrow and Hope
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