The Proper Attitude in a Day of Apostasy, Pt. 1 (01/02/2000)

Book of Lamentations.

It's good to have brother Frizzell back with us this morning and the whole family including faith,

it's good to see you Book of Lamentations and also I'd

like to have you turn to Proverbs chapter 8.

Look at Proverbs chapter 8 just a couple of verses that we mentioned last Sunday morning before we get

into the book of Lamentations.

But I want to speak to you this morning about the proper attitude in a day of apostasy.

The proper attitude of a Christian in the day of apostasy.

Let's start by looking at Proverbs chapter 8 and verse 22.

I'd like to read that whole chapter, but it's not the message so I won't do it.

Let's look at a couple of key verses.

Proverbs 8 22 the Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way.

Before his works of old I Was set up from everlasting.

From the beginning or ever the earth was.

When there were no depths I was brought forth when there were no fountains abounding with water before the

mountains were settled before the hills I was brought forth.

And I wanted you to look at a couple of words in those verses and the

first.

Or in English anyway, and it's a phrase the phrase set up Where he says I was set

up from everlasting.

The phrase set up in the Hebrew language is the Hebrew word no sock

which means to pour out or to cast as casting metal and

the phrase brought forth where he says I was brought forth before the world was and

This is the main word that I want you to think about as we go into this passage and lamentations because we're gonna see this Same

word used again but this word where it says Jesus was brought forth before the world

was is the Hebrew word cool and it literally means

to twist or whorl in a circular or spiral manner and

I've thought before I've been putting some thought into this word in the last weeks.

Thinking about the phrase where Jesus told the Pharisees he said I came forth or

I came out from God and proceeded forth from the Father and of course they picked up stones to

stone him when he said that because they knew that he meant I Came out of the Father

and therefore I am God.

He said you shall die in your sins for if you believe not that I am You shall die in your sins.

And as I think about when Jesus himself says that he proceeded forth and came out from God and

Back in Proverbs where it says that he was brought forth from the Father

the literal rendering of that word to Whirl out in a spiral manner.

I pictured that in a physical sense of Jesus coming out from God

and in the counsels of God as we go back as far back as we can think in

time or even beyond time to a place Called the determinant counsel that the Bible speaks of

and I see Jesus Christ the Son of God being there.

I Picture these things when I read this, but this I wanted to bring this to you this morning as you look at this

same word Where it says Jesus was brought forth.

It has some other Colors of meaning and sometimes they come out through other translations in

the Old Testament in other verses.

Let me give you some other words or phrases that this same word has been translated into in the King James

Version by way of definition it can mean

to writhe in pain and So we see some translations and uses in the

Old Testament where it carries this color of meaning.

There's a place where it is translated to fall grievously.

With pain to fall down grievously with pain as one who was wounded in battle.

There's a place where it said it's translated to be in pain.

There's another place where it's translated to be much pain to be sore sorely pain.

There are many places where this word is translated into the word sorrow or Sorrowful

there are places where it's translated to travail with pain.

There's there are more than one place.

There's more than one place where it's translated to be wounded.

And so as we think about this as the Lord Jesus says I proceeded forth and came out from God and here in

Proverbs it says before the mountains were settled before the hills were I Was brought

forth it carries with it a lot more than the English.

It doesn't just mean he just came forth it means that he came forth, but there's this

color of meaning that has to do with pain and Prevail and with being wounded and it

brings to my mind Revelation 13 8 where it says the Lamb slain

before the foundation of the world.

This is who the Lord Jesus Christ is and this is how he came forth from the

determinant counsels of the God of the Godhead.

Now I'd like for you to turn back to the book of the Lamentations.

But I want you to keep in mind this word cool in Hebrew

and The meaning of it To writhe in pain to fall grievously

to travail to be wounded and so forth.

Keep that in mind.

We'll see this word later.

But now let's look at the Lamentations just for a moment.

Does anyone if you if you were to kind of thumb through the chapters of this short book and

Look at the chapters.

Do you see anything unusual?

It just comes to mind as you look at the length of the chapters.

I'll give you a hint.

Somebody tell me anything you see unusual about this.

This book

you might see it.

Very good.

They all have an ending.

Well, they all end with a certain verse except for one chapter how many verses.

22 every single one of them except chapter 3 has 22 verses and

what's interesting about chapter 3 is that It really is is Has

the number 22 in it as well, and I'll show you why in a moment, but this the Lamentations

are what the I Guess if Deborah were here this morning schoolteachers

would call it Ella, and I don't know how to say it.

I wish Deborah were here this morning.

Something like a let a legac point.

But what it means is it has a certain rhythm to it.

But it also is a song expressing sorrow, especially over the death of a youth.

Now look at verse chapter 3.

Look how many verses it has.

It has 66 verses and that's 3 times 22.

And so what happens when you look at this whole book the first chapter Has a new

letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

Opening each verse there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet.

Each letter of the Hebrew alphabet is used to start the verses in chapter 1.

The same is true in chapter 2.

Now in the third chapter however you have 22 groups of three phrases or

verses and each one of those is allotted to one of the 22 letters of the Hebrew

alphabet and So each of the three verses starts with the same letter so when you look at chapter 3

verse 1 2 3 would all start with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and Verses 4 5 6 would be the

second letter so that you see that the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet are found in all of these

chapters the only exception is the last chapter of the book and They do not start with the letters of

the Hebrew alphabet.

But it is still poetic in nature and so this is written in the form of a song

and it is a lamentation over the death of Israel actually and

Marileth Unger says this about the book.

It says the whole note is one of deep tragedy the Lord's people from whom

salvation would eventually come.

Have become so vile as to be fit only to be destroyed.

Now let's go back and I want to Take a an overview of

this book this morning.

Now I want you to realize as you go through this book, it's almost like listening to the news.

Or reading the newspaper anything you ever notice about the news if you try to watch it or listen to it.

It's depressing.

Why is it so depressing?

Because it's negative.

We were flipping through a channel last night and the news was on and my

children were Sitting in a room and we were watching and it says.

Well, it says nothing, you know.

We've gone through the clock has turned over in all these countries and nothing really bad has happened.

And that was the only good thing they said.

Nothing really bad has happened.

Even it had the word bad in it and then it went on to talk about some things that had happened.

But none of it related to Y2K, but all the rest of it was bad news.

Well this book as Jeremiah is looking at his beloved

nation.

And what has befallen the nation?

It's just nearly all bad news.

But there is one Little passage of verses in the midst of this book that we're gonna look at this

morning.

That is the bright light in the middle of all this trouble.

But before we get to that I want us to look at some of the trouble.

I'll be like the newscaster chapter 1.

If there is an overriding theme in chapter 1 or we might call this the first lamentation.

The first lamentation is about the loss of a testimony.

I believe that's how I would sum it up.

Anyway, the loss of testimony in Verse 1 it says how doth the

city sit solitary that was full of people.

She that was great is become tributary.

And I'm gonna make a parallel this morning.

Not that I think that the Bible necessarily does this.

You can use this is my opinion you can Use your own opinion.

But my opinion is that we can look at the at the lamentations and we can take a look

at the church in this century.

We just came to the close of it.

I suppose but we can go back to the early 1900s or the late 1800s and we can look

at the the history of the church and See where we've come today.

We could go to the book of Revelation and talk about the different stages that The prophetic

writings talk about all the way down to the Laodicean Church, which is the lukewarm Church

and we're certainly in that mindset in the church today and We can see that

that these lamentations Can certainly give us light Into

where the church is going in the last days.

The Bible says that Jesus will not come back unless there be a great falling away a great

apostasy from the truth.

How should we live in a day such as that you may so I don't believe we're in that day.

In fact, the charismatic movement is always saying we're in great world revival.

We're experiencing a revival today like has never been seen in the history of the world and I would agree with that statement.

It certainly is like one that's never been seen before.

It's a revival.

That's not affecting society one bit.

It's a revival.

That's not closed down one beer joint.

It's a revival that hasn't stopped any bit of worldliness are Ridded our streets of

prostitutes.

It's a revival that has not decreased the crime wave and So they're right.

It's a revival like the world has never seen.

It's a totally ineffectual revival because it's not real.

It's an illusion the fact is Prophecy and scriptures tell

us that the world is going the other direction.

It's not going towards revival it's going towards apostasy and How should we live?

Well, we look at Jeremiah and he lived in such a day very similar day and

How did he make it through that time?

And that's what I want us to get hold of this morning.

I don't know that the new year and the new millennia is going to bring about better things in the United States of America

for Christians, I Don't know that it's going to bring better Environments for Christians

worldwide.

I Just can't see how if we're having apostasy and a falling away from the truth that that's going to help us be

more comfortable in this world.

So I think we may find ourselves and certainly our children will in a state very similar to where

Jeremiah is as we look Today, so first he laments over the if the loss

of an effective testimony of God's people.

Now it all it says in verse 2 that all of a sudden their friends have become enemies.

It's kind of interesting to look back at the church at the turn of the century when great preachers

would stand in the halls of Congress and give marvelous speeches which

really were sermons and Now you don't see that at all.

What you see now is they bring preachers to the White House that are in full agreement with what Clinton already

believes.

And so those who used to be quote the friends of the church are the enemies of the church now.

There was a day in this country even in this past century When you wouldn't look as a at a doctor as

being the one who is all perfect and all -knowing and and all wise.

In the nation, they would go to the preachers and sit and feel that way.

Well now the preachers certainly proved them wrong didn't they and Doctors are doing that nowadays to the left and

to the right don't ever think for one moment that your doctor Knows everything that you think he knows.

He doesn't even know everything.

He thinks he knows and How many thousand people I read a statistic?

I don't know.

Many thousands.

I won't say a number because they'd be wrong.

But many thousands of people die each year because doctors and health care workers give the wrong

medicine and it kills you.

So always get a second opinion, even if it's from your wife or your husband.

But so in the early years It was the preacher in the community that

even the government leaders would go to to ask for advice.

It's not that way anymore.

The those who used to be the friends of the church are now her enemies.

Says in verse 6 that the beauty of Israel had departed.

Did you know that the beauty always departs when the holiness departs?

The church has no beauty if it's just like the world and.

Then in verse 6 it also says that her strength is gone Before her pursuer,

isn't that a frightening statement?

Listen to me now the strength is gone as The

enemy pursues.

That's a bad time to lose your strength, isn't it?

Chapter 1 verse 10 says the adversary hath spread his hand upon all

her pleasant things.

For she hath seen that the heathen entered into her sanctuary.

Whom thou didst command that they should not enter into that congregation.

The enemy has now placed his evil filthy hands within the very sanctuary.

Where God's people were supposed to have separation and solace and peace.

He's put his hands in the congregation.

Lamentation 1 3 says Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction and because of great

servitude.

She dwelleth among the heathen.

She findeth no rest.

You know that when the church begins to dwell among the heathen there's no peace or rest in the church and

The peace and the rest goes away all her persecutors overtook her between the straits.

Verse 7 it says all her pleasant things from the days of old are gone.

Do you know that would include the doctrines that were freely taught from the pulpits?

You go back to the late 1800s the early 1900s the very doctrines that were taught and

loved from the pulpits of.

I'll speak of Baptist churches because that's what we know more history about than any other

those same doctrines are Gone now in many quarters.

They're not to be found Coming out from a pulpit in Baptist churches today.

In fact if those old Pleasant things were brought forth today people would think they were wrong

and Then in verse 9 it says her filthiness is in her skirts.

She had no comforter the enemy had magnified himself.

Isn't it interesting that it uses the word comforter in that Old Testament verse and when there was a lack of

the comforter all of a sudden filth and Sin, and it comes into play

in the church and the enemy magnifies himself in the church.

What a horrible horrible horrible statement because who is supposed to be magnified and

glorified in the church and Now the enemy is magnified in the church

if we can relate this to the church.

This relates to the Nation of Israel.

My question this morning is Can it teach us any lessons about the church today?

I?

See in verse 16 and in verse 13 and verse 18 That the

Prophet Jeremiah was given three things because of what was happening around him.

First of all in verse 16, he was given tears and I say he was given tears

because the other people were not crying over what was happening to the nation.

The other people didn't care about what was happening to God's people.

And I would dare say that today the only people of God who would shed any tear over the church or even see that the

Church is in any trouble at all.

Would be people who God had given the ability to have these tears and to see the falling away.

That's happening all around us.

And the second thing that this great prophet received from God in verse 13 He said I have fire

in my bones.

Imagine that he had a zeal for God in the midst of apostasy.

Got him in some trouble from time to time.

But he says I have fire in my bones from above.

Wow, that's where we need to be.

You talking about a prop a Proper attitude in a time of apostasy in a time

where Jesus himself said we live in a lukewarm Church age to be given fire in your

bones from above.

Wouldn't that be an awesome gift?

From God because You wouldn't have it didn't come from him.

And how about to be given a tear from time to time?

Lamenting over the state of the church where the enemy himself is magnified more in the churches than

God is today.

And the third thing he got found in verse 18 is he received repentance and a

sense of The righteousness of God.

Now if you go through and you read what was happening in this if you read this whole book You're gonna find

things you find difficult to believe that God's people would do.

For instance The mothers were boiling their children and eating them for lack of

food and Such horrible things

happened to this nation and then eventually Led away in captivity.

Some historians say that hooks were placed through their sternum and attached to the person in

front and He had one and she had one and they led them away that way and

Naked of course and all of these things happening and yet Jeremiah looks

at his God and says you are Righteous to bring this to pass.

Jeremiah didn't for one second think these things were accidents.

He did not say that these things happened for any other reason than that God brought them to pass.

But he said even in the in the truth of that you're righteous.

Because of the horrible state of sin that we've all fallen into.

And he concluded himself in verse 18 The Lord is righteous Jeremiah

says for I isn't it interesting that he started with himself.

For I have rebelled against his commandment here.

I pray you all people and behold my sorrow.

My virgins and my young men are gone into captivity and God is righteous

in the midst of it all.

So he's given tears.

He's given fire in his bones and he's given this sense of understanding that as bad as things may look

God is still righteous, you know one thing Jeremiah understood that a lot of people do not understand today is that God is in

control and Why do you think the Bible says that we should rejoice in all things because we have

things that happen that we perceive as bad.

And certainly from our point of view they are bad.

But what Jeremiah understood was that if God and an omnipotent

Omniscient all -wise all -loving God brought it to pass.

It can't really be bad.

It has to be for our good it has to work out for the good of God's people and

Jeremiah knew that it would and he stood in the midst of it all watching all this happen to his

people.

Crying but saying God is right.

You better have that attitude in these last days of apostasy or you'll fall away with the apostasy.

You'll fall into some sorry Doctrine that won't get you anywhere that won't get give you any strength.

That will call as you just a fear and that'll be the predominant characteristic in your heart.

But if you follow the Lord and the scriptures and you understand who's in control Bible says God hath not given

us a spirit of fear.

But a spirit that cries Abba Father.

What does it mean when a child calls you daddy, by the way, what means they're mixed up.

I guess if you're a mom, right, but what does it mean gentlemen when child calls you daddy?

You know that one of the things that means is that he feels absolutely safe while you're standing there.

He feels absolutely safe knowing that you're in complete control.

Do you think that baby worries about whether he's gonna get a meal the next day?

Daddy's there as long as daddy's there.

I'm gonna get a meal.

Do you think he sits around and worries about where the house is gonna fall in on his head or whether he's gonna have no Clothes to wear he

doesn't even worry about whether he's gonna have a toy or two.

Daddy's there.

And we've lost the ability to look at God as the sovereign one who can supply all needs and

who has promised to do.

So with his children now we could sum up this first lamentation in verse 8 so look

at it.

Jerusalem hath grievously sinned.

Therefore she is removed.

Have you room do you remember a statement in the New Testament where it says something about a candlestick being removed?

Who can tell me what that means?

Think back from where from the

church.

So at that point the church becomes an institution.

It has walls.

It has a ceiling.

It has ornate things and it has people in it but it doesn't have the power and presence of Jesus

Christ.

The light is removed and Here we see That Jerusalem

hath grievously sinned.

Therefore she is removed.

All that honoreth her now despise her because they have seen her

Nakedness, why do you think it is that people in this world?

Do not respect the church anymore.

Why do you think it is that they laugh about?

Preachers all over this world and if you ever see one in a Hollywood movie or on television.

You'll see him in a bad light unless he's a Catholic and then he'll be in a good light.

But if he's any kind of Protestant preacher or a Baptist preacher, he's a joke.

Why do you think that is?

Well, look what happens they have seen her nakedness.

They've looked at that.

They've seen more preachers fall into adultery in this last decade probably than all the history of the church.

Going all the way back to David and he wasn't a preacher.

They've seen more.

It's just like the earthquakes we've seen more earthquakes in this century than in all of

recorded history and We've seen more preachers fall into sin and more people who call themselves people of

God fall into overt gross sin that the world can see than probably any other time and.

And so they look and they see the nakedness which always typifies sin

just playing right out in the open sin and They do they no longer honor her, but they

despise her.

Yay.

She scythe and turneth backwards.

That's what the church is doing today.

How can the church storm the gates of hell if she's sighing and turning backwards

because she's so weakened by sin.

Sin in her midst.

Now we go into the second lamentation and he's just begun.

First of all, he laments the lost the loss of the testimony and now in this

second lamentation We see that what the great prophet sees is that God

himself now listen to this because this is something people don't understand or believe today.

God himself perverted their religion as Punishment for

disobedience and lukewarmness.

This is frightening, but let's look at it.

Think about it a minute.

Look at lamentation chapter 2 verse 5.

It says the Lord was as an enemy didn't say he was an enemy but it said as

they looked at the things going around most of the people said why has God chosen to be our enemy and

Jeremiah doesn't say that he says God is righteous.

But the the average person who has not walked with God has not studied.

Doesn't know God very well when these bad things start to happen.

Who do they want to blame it in all of a sudden they become Calvinist?

They blame God for everything all the bad.

Now they believe it see now they say God's in control and they blame him for all the bad things that are happening.

The Lord was as an enemy.

He hath swallowed up Israel.

Well, the fact and the truth is the Lord was in absolute control.

Look at verse 6 and He hath violently violently taken

away his tabernacle.

Who is he in that verse?

Mm -hmm the Lord himself.

God has violently taken away whose tabernacle his own.

This is Something we ought to really contemplate.

God has taken away his own tabernacle as if it were of a garden and he just decided to

remove it.

He hath destroyed his places of assembly

the Lord.

Jehovah hath caused the solemn feasts and Sabbath to be forgotten in

Zion and he hath despised in the indignation of

his anger the king.

Period that what it says he doesn't he despises Clinton.

Is that what it says?

That's not what it says.

Is it?

It does not say that he despised the king.

It says he despised the king and the preachers.

Isn't that amazing?

So what do we see here?

First of all, God himself has taken away the places of assembly.

God himself has removed the solemn feasts.

So now he has not only taken away the places of assembly.

He has removed the proper form of worship from their mind.

So they no longer know how to worship when they come together.

They don't even know the right way to worship God.

And I have a question for you.

Can you please God if you worship him your way?

So if he were to remove his way from your mind and heart, where would you be?

You would be lost.

I mean you do you would be Enabled to please God with the very worship that you're trying to do when you

come together.

And God is the one who made it this way for these people, but it was as punishment because for so many years

they're just.

Yeah, we'll go we'll go church, man.

Yeah, let's go get it.

And it's about 12 minutes to well, you know.

We can we can do it till about that time and we'll go eat and we'll go home the rest of they'll be ours

lukewarm and God comes out to a place and he says

we're not gonna do this and all of a sudden he removes from their mind any remembrance of

the proper way to worship and The proper forms of worship is gone and it not only that but it says he

despised not only the king.

Not only the political leaders who are we know are grossly in sin.

How many of you trust your politicians raise your hand you want to have more for dinner and let them raise your children.

All right, and so God despises them and carries them in indignation, but he also

said the same is true the preachers.

How many of us believe that?

Oh No, people send hundreds of thousands of dollars to these TV preachers every day.

And I think it's funny there's this old there's an old apostate Preacher in Dallas, I assume

he's apostate because he curses in his sermons uses curse words in his sermons.

I mean bad curse words and.

And yet he has this organization that he's put together and he's tax exempt and what he does

is.

He goes and he finds out these TV preachers.

He exposes them for what they are and Because of him this what was this guy Tilton

remember when he fell.

It was this other guy that cusses in his preaching is his groups the one that exposed him and gave all that news to Diane

Sawyer and she put it out on across the airwaves in his ministry fell.

So God not only despises the political leaders, but he despises the very

preachers who preach these very doctrines that take people away from the forms.

Proper forms of worship.

Now lamentation 2 7 says the Lord hath cast off his altar.

Now look, it says the Lord is doing this the Lord cast off his altar.

He hath abhorred his own sanctuary.

He has given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces.

God himself has brought the enemy into the places of worship.

They have made a noise in the house of the Lord.

Now listen to that phrase.

Tell me that doesn't Mirror itself in the church today.

The enemy has been brought into the churches and makes a noise in the house of the Lord.

Do you picture anything when you I do?

I've seen some services where the people thought that the noise is what brought praise to God so they bring

in the trap sets and And and the electric guitars and electric

basses and Tambourines and they get the world they bring the world's music music with the the

bass.

Straight out of the darkest parts of the world I mean the beat and all that in and they put it up here on the

platform and they get it going and boy they just Start dancing around and they make a noise right there in the church and that's

praise.

And if you read any modern books on how To praise God you're gonna find out that's how to do it.

Go down to the art this week buy you a book on how to praise God.

And you're gonna find out that that's how you're supposed to praise God.

You'll find out the proper attitude of praise is like this.

You know when the Bible lists many I mean this is one of them but you'll find out that that has to go on while you have

worldly music playing and all kinds of Modern songs that are sung and a great

noise is made and all for naught.

And it's very interesting that God himself brought that into the church as punishment the true

for listen if you could go back to the year 1900 before the Pentecostal movement was

born actually in the year 1902 there was no such thing as a Pentecostal or charismatic before 1902 and

you could set foot inside a Baptist Church and You watch what they thought?

Praise and worship was and you'd be afraid to walk in there because you would feel dirty.

I believe that I Believe that if we could be around some of those Saints who?

remembered How it was supposed to be done it would cause us to be

embarrassed and Yet we feel perfectly comfortable.

So he laments The fact that the proper forms of religion the true worship of God was

missing and it was gone.

And he points out the amazing thing about it is that God himself removed it.

Who is it in the book of Revelation that removes that candlestick by the way, it's

Lord.

It says he abhorred his sanctuary gave up the house of worship to the enemy who made a noise in the house of the Lord.

In verse 9 says her gates are sunk into the ground.

He hath destroyed and broken her bars her king and her princes are among the Gentiles.

The law is no more.

Her prophets also find no vision from the Lord.

So they don't even understand the law anymore.

They cannot tell folks what the Bible means anymore.

It's not clear it's all kind of gray and muddled up and The prophets have no vision from the Lord.

That means they have a lot of visions, but they're not from the Lord.

And they tell people that it's from the Lord when it's not.

It says the law is gone.

And then it says also that sin is no longer preached about you find that in verse 14.

This is really sad.

Look at chapter 2 verse 14 the prophets have seen vain and foolish things for

thee that means for the people and They have not discovered your iniquity.

That means the prophets got the place where they never told Israel.

She was in sin.

They never pointed out what sins they were doing.

They didn't want to offend them.

They didn't you know, I'm sure their money was more important.

So they wanted to keep them around.

They would not preach about the sins that the people were doing and so they never discovered their sins.

To turn away them from the very captivity that was coming.

That implies that had they preached against the sins of the people though They might have had their heads chopped off.

It might have kept the nation out of captivity hypothetically speaking.

But they would not they would not discover their iniquity to turn away thy captivity

but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment

so He admonishes them to repent in verse 19.

Now, I want you to go to lamentation number 4 chapter 4

Lamentation and found in chapter 4 the fourth lamentation Can be summed up this

way in verse 1 the gold of the sanctuaries poured out into the streets.

Does that bring any kind of mental picture to you?

About what's happening in the churches it points out a couple of things.

The priests and the prophets sold out the nation and Then on the other hand the Lord brought

division among the people in verse 16 of chapter 4 by causing the people To not

respect the priests so they they would not follow the leadership because they didn't respect

them anymore and So no one would follow them and so there was no leadership and so you just had the sheep scattered

and all of this is brought about and this is what he limped lamb laments in Chapter 4 the fourth

lamentation and in the fifth in chapter 5 It gives a

description of the captivity now Verse 2 says that their

inheritance is turned over to strangers and aliens.

All of this can picture spiritual things that happen inside the church because of apostasy.

In Verse 8 it says that servants will rule over them

and I think sometimes that can mean in the church today that you'll have men and Women who will arise and say we're going to

control this church.

We're going to tell you what doctrine we're going to have and so forth, but they were never called of God.

They were never called to be leading the church.

And in verse 11 It says the maids are ravished within the cities.

Maids means the young virgin girls were ravished within the cities that's a result

of apostasy and Then in verse 14 the elders no longer study and

philosophize.

The elders in the church don't study the word anymore.

They don't get together and talk about it and then in verse 14 also the young men no

longer make music.

Young men don't write songs unto God anymore like David did.

And then in verse 15 The joy of their heart is absolutely ceased now.

These are all things that happen when you go into spiritual captivity when you're captive by the world

and by Satan and Then we find that record the recognition that repentance

comes only from the Lord and that's found in chapter 5 verses 21 through 22.

Now that brings us to chapter 3 come back to chapter 3 and I want us to look at the one bright spot.

As we go into a new year and it's supposed to be a happy sermon.

It's Difficult if you really think about reality in America in the churches

to be happy about it it would be more likely that if you studied it

very closely you would lament over it and Look at chapter 3 and I want to lead

up to this bright spot by reading To it.

So let's start with verse 1 and I want you to think as you read.

Think as you read this morning.

I Am the man that hath seen

affliction by the rod of his wrath.

He hath led me and brought me into darkness, but not into light.

Jeremiah says Surely against me is he turned.

He turneth his hand against me all the day.

Now he not only speaks for himself, but he's speaking for the whole nation here this you know.

He's speaking as the prophet of the nation.

Speaking for himself in the nation my flesh and my skin hath He made old.

He hath broken my bones.

He hath builded against me and compassed me with gall and travail.

He hath set me in dark places as they that be dead of old.

He hath hedged me about that.

I cannot get out.

He hath made my chain heavy now.

Let me tell you something when you find yourself or you find the church in a

State where it seems like things are not going well it's a state where things are not perfect where you don't

have just joy and glee everywhere and There are problems on every hand seemingly.

Understand that sometimes you will feel like it.

God has made it where you can't get out.

And that's because he has made it where he can't get out for a while for a season.

He's applying the pressure of the potter on the clay.

Do you understand what I'm saying?

He's applying that pressure.

He's not gonna let you get out right at this moment.

And he this is the way that Jeremiah is feeling.

He Has hedged me about that.

I cannot get out.

He hath made my chain heavy verse 8.

Also when I cry and shout he shut it out my prayer.

He senses that God's not paying any attention to his prayers.

He hath enclosed my ways with hewn stone.

He hath made my paths crooked.

He was unto me as a bear lying in wait and as a lion in secret places.

That's not the modern -day conception of God is it?

Jeremiah knew God friends.

He knew God.

The people didn't but he knew God and he knew God was not like he was being

portrayed by the Prophets of the day.

The prophets of the day were protect portraying God as love.

Perhaps He would never bring the Assyrian army in here and let him touch his own never no matter

how far you slide towards Gomorrah.

God is love.

That's what they preached.

That's why Jeremiah said they preach in such a ways.

It brings about the captivity.

And Jeremiah says he's like a bear he he.

He's like a bear laying in wait for me as a lion in secret places.

He hath turned aside my ways and pulled me in pieces.

He hath made me desolate.

He hath bent his bow and set me as a mark for his arrow.

He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins into my very heart.

I Was a derision to all my people in their song all the day long.

They made fun of me because I was a Bible thumper.

That's what he's saying.

He hath filled me with bitterness.

He hath made me drunken with wormwood.

He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones.

That's a bad mental picture, isn't it?

Does that show a picture of peace and things going well.

He hath covered me with ashes and thou has to remove my soul far off

from peace.

I Forget prosperity because it's gone.

And I said my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord.

Remembering mine affliction and my misery the wormwood and the gall now see he's saying

now I'm thinking my thought life is on those things.

So Jeremiah is saying now what I'm remembering right now is all the trouble up trouble I'm in and so

as he thinks in that fashion He's now going through and point out all the things the bad things

God's brought into his life.

And he's focused on that.

He's a negative thinker at this point.

But in a moment, he's gonna remember something else.

Look at verse 20.

My soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me if

there is any Useful purpose for thinking of the past and the sins you've

done and the bad that has happened in your life.

Paul says not to look back but to go forward towards the mark, doesn't he?

But if there is any useful purpose in it, it is that it humbles us.

It brings humility because we see we were not in control.

And to the extent that we attempted to be we sinned.

But look at verse 21.

This I recalled to my mind therefore have I hope he's changing his thoughts at this moment.

He was thinking about all those things and it brought no hope but he says but now I thought just entered my mind.

That does bring hope and you know that if you're God's child.

You're eventually after wallowing through all of that mud and slop and Horrible

negative thoughts of everything that God has brought into your life.

Eventually, you're going to have this thought.

This I recall to my mind and therefore I really do have hope look at verse 22.

It is of the Lord's mercies.

That we are not consumed.

Do you know what he's thinking right now?

He's thinking, you know.

There is not one of the human race that should have survived.

There is not one of the human race that should not have been utterly Annihilated and

what's interesting about this is when we talk about this word can consumed in

The Hebrew language it is the word tall mom, which even sounds bad tall mom.

It means to complete in a good or bad sense.

Now you have to think a minute to get the meaning of that but what it means is

To complete means if you take that in the bad sense, it means to finish.

He's saying this came to mind and gave me hope that it is because of the Lord's mercies that we

were not Completed and finished and God just goes and does a new program without us.

Are you with me?

He said, you know all these things seem so terrible all this is.