Our Sin Will Leave Us Defeated And Alone - Lamentations 1:19-22

Hello there and welcome back to the God -Centered Bible Study. This is Andy Cain. It's a joy to be with you once again.

Today we are picking back up in the book of Lamentations at Lamentations chapter 1, verse 19 through 22.

Now it says, I have called to my lovers, but they deceived me. My priest and my elders breathed their last in the city while they sought food for themselves in order to restore their souls.

Now these lovers here, there were two groups of people who should have helped but didn't or would not.

So remember, we are sitting here in Lamentations. Babylon has come. They've completely destroyed pretty much everything and whoever made it through was carved off into slavery in Babylon.

But this lament, this lamenting of what happened, of their current state.

Right here in verse 19, we see how our sin, and you don't really think about this when it's going on, but our sin leaves you defeated and alone.

Here with the Jewish people, they say they called them to my lovers. While this is going on, all this bad is happening and Babylon's coming in and it seems like they can't stop it.

They're calling out to those who should have loved them, or at least who they thought loved them and should be helping them.

And these groups of people either couldn't help or they didn't want to.

Think about how when you're in situations, you find out who your real friends are, right? They either will help you, maybe they can't.

But these lovers, these deceived, they deceived the priests, the elders, and it says, my priest and elders breathed their last in the city.

So you've got the lovers I'm calling out, you got these priests and elders, the priests and elders who should be the leaders, who should be the pillars, the one that are leading them and helping them.

And it says they breathe their last in their city while they sought food for themselves in order to restore the soul.

So they're seeking food, they're seeking nourishment, they're seeking the basic things of life and can't even find it.

This judgment is so severe. So we see that the ones who should or claimed to be on our side, leave us deserted and either can't help or won't help.

We see this in Jeremiah chapter 14 and verse 15, where it talks about the lying prophets and priests would die because of their sin.

So we see that prophecy there where it said that these lying prophets, the ones that God said, you know, they're out there saying they speak for me.

They have a word from the Lord. And they're saying, this is revelation. This is what's going to happen.

This is what you need to know. And God says, they don't speak for me.

They're lying to you. They're saying they have a word from the Lord. They're saying they're bringing you revelation.

They say they're bringing you the truth of God's word, but they're not. And it prophesied that they would die in the streets.

And this is the fulfillment here. It's saying my priests and elders, they breathed their last in the city.

They received their judgment. You know, sin's going to promise you the world.

It promises you everything. It makes you think you're going to have the highest of highs, never have any lows.

Everything's going to be great. You're going to enjoy life. Everything's just going to come up as a peachy and all those good things.

And well, it just simply leaves you distressed, in anguish, afflicted, disturbed, troubled, boiled up, overturned, all because of rebellion.

And if you'll remember, last entry into the lamentation study, it's been a little while ago.

And in fact, the recording area here probably looked a little different on the video. We might've even been doing green screen back there.

I can't remember. But in verse 18, we talked about the proper response to sin, beginning with the noting that Yahweh is righteous.

And then it says, for I have rebelled against His command. And so now you see this here, sin, this rebellion, this judgment and this

Babylon coming and the judgment and the consequences of their sin, this is not like trials and sufferings and things that can come upon us because of just general sin in the world or somebody else's sin or just things that happen in life.

This is the type of judgment. And this is the type of consequences specifically because of rebellion.

And we have rebellion here in the people. And this rebellion that comes thinking that sin's going to be okay, or it's going to give you whatever it is that it promises, it's going to leave you far more afflicted than even some natural sufferings and trials can be.

Because you're going to be completely in turmoil and turned over and all these things. And so we see here moving on in verse 20, it says, see

O Yahweh, see O Lord, for I am in distress, anguish, affliction.

And notice here as we go through verse 20, you're going to see all these things that we just went over coming up here.

This is the author here speaking on behalf of himself and for all the people, this is how they feel.

They're in distress. They're in anguish, affliction. He says, my inmost being is greatly disturbed, which means troubled, boiled up, flaming over.

You're just rage where you're just, you just feel like you can't take anything else.

You're just going to lose it. But notice here, it's all because of rebellion.

It says, for I have been very rebellious, very rebellious.

It isn't God's fault. It isn't the guy down the street. It isn't his fault. It's not the fault of the priests or the elders that died in the city on the streets.

It's my fault. It's your fault. It's our fault. It's our sin.

Jeremiah say, it's our sin, the sin of the people is the reason God brought this judgment.

Babylon didn't come because God hates us or he's mean or he just, you know, you just did a little bit of sin, but I'm going to bring down judgment.

No, he warned them and begged them and pled with them over many years.

Stop sinning, stop rebelling, rebelling. Turn to me, serve me, love me.

Stop breaking my commandments. I've been very rebellious, meaning disobedient.

In the street, the sword bereaves or this word that means make childless.

In these situations, you've got people losing their children, people being bereaved of everything.

In the house, it's like death. We recently had, and I'm still working through what we believe to be a dead squirrel under one of our bedrooms, possibly in the ductwork or somewhere like that.

I can tell you, it does not smell very good. In fact, it smells like death.

You walk into the room, you're like, oh man, like, oh no, what is this smell?

Like, whoa, hits you like a ton of bricks, right? Well, that's what it's saying here in this house, in the house.

It's like death. I mean, think about it. You have all those dead bodies all over the street, all those dead bodies at houses.

There's so many different ways and different places where these people were killed and murdered.

You may have some people left over in this area where Babylon's using them to clean up or do whatever, and they're around all this death.

Maybe they're on the process of leaving, and they're just around all this death and just all this stench.

All these things are just like, man, it's just, it's rough. Smells like death, and that's definitely not good.

And then we move on here in verse 21. It says, they have heard that I am sighing, meaning groaning, mourning.

They, who's they? There is no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of the evil done to me, and they rejoice that you have done it.

People love to see God's people brought low. This they have heard that I am sighing or groaning or mourning.

People in the neighboring areas, people far and wide, have no doubt heard of what's happened to Jerusalem.

Man, don't you just love it? Those little Jerusalem people, those little

Jewish people. I mean, you see it today, man, people just salivating at the mouth to see Jewish people hurt, and it just, it's sickening.

Anybody for that matter, white, black, Mexican, whatever your background, nobody should ever want anybody to be in pain, but they were loving it.

They thought they were so good. They thought they're great. Oh, they have the word of God, the one true

God. Where's their God now? I tell you, look at them. They've been destroyed.

They've been killed. They've been wiped out. They're carved off to slavery. Yeah, they're so great, aren't they?

That's what they're saying. They're loving it. If you've ever been a hypocrite and propped yourself up in pride and not really been living like you should, then you get exposed.

You know what this feels like, to have people find out and say, man, he weren't what we thought he was, or she weren't who we thought she was.

Yeah, and they love to say, see, hypocrite. Look at those hypocrites.

Got them, didn't we? Yeah, we exposed them. They love it. They rejoice that God, when

God brings judgment. Now, when judgment's coming on them, they don't like it too much, but they love to see it happen to God's people.

He says, you have brought the day which you have proclaimed, the day you announced. This is a day that was prophesied, a day announced, the day that did not come by surprise.

It did not come by mistake. It came exactly as God intended it for it to come.

This very day, God intended it to come for the very reasons that God intended it for it to come.

And so we see here, it says, so that they will become like me. Let all their evil come before you and deal severely with them as you have dealt severely with me.

For all my transgressions, for my groans are great and my heart is faint. Now, God does not punish unwarrantedly.

If we suffer consequences because of our sin, we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Sin not repented of and not dealt with will be a bill that will come due. Your sin will find you out.

And so we see here when he says, let all their evil come before you, he says, I know we're being judged or being judged rightly.

This is for our sin. We deserve it. But all my enemies, all these people that are cursing your name and making fun of you,

God, and making fun of your children, your people, we want to see them dealt severely with just as we have been dealt severely with.

For all my transgressions. And so notice the ownership here.

The writer says, you have dealt severely with me for all my transgressions.

Not for others, not for an unwarranted reason, for my actual rebellion and my actual transgressions.

That is why it has come. God was bringing deserved judgment. He was bringing the severe pain and consequences for their sin.

God is not unjust in any of his meeting out of judgment on sin.

Now, ultimately, we are thankful that by the grace and mercy of God, the punishment and the judgment for our sin was meted out and put on Christ in the cross.

So he bears that for us so we don't have to bear it. Sin's consequences should never come as a surprise to us, but they so often do.

We're like, what's it come from? This doesn't make any sense.

And you look for all these things. Well, it must be this. It must be that. Or, you know, it couldn't be, you know, and we ignore sin.

We take the big old rug and our broom and just sweep it on the rug. We're like, nah, it couldn't be that.

Well, it probably is. But 1 John chapter 1, verse 5 through 10, we read about how we're children of light.

We have fellowship with him. He cleanses us from all sin. In the new covenant with the new creation that we are in Christ, we are continually sanctified day in and day out.

We are to be living sacrifices every day. We are to be living in righteousness and holiness. And we can take as an example what happened to these people here in Jerusalem when

Babylon come, why Babylon came, what happened when they came, and the aftermath of it as a very good example of what sin can do in your own life.

God is not mocked. He, what you sow, you reap what you sow. He sees.

He knows. You can't hide from it. Your transgressions will find you out. And he says, my groans are great and my heart is faint.

Sin has left Jeremiah, has left the people of God, the ones that lived, defeated and alone, feeling probably many times like there is no hope.

You can know that it's coming. And still when you experience it in time, it still affects you. And so Jeremiah, even though he prophesied all this, he still, it hurts him.

It affects him. But the true prophet here, Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, the one who prophesied and was used to say, look, don't listen to the false prophets.

Listen to me. I'm telling you, Babylon is coming. Consequences for sin is coming.

Now in this book, he's saying it hurts. We're disturbed. We're in anguish.

This is horrible. My groans are great. My heart is faint. But Jeremiah is laying the groundwork and the foundation and the example of what true repentance looks like.

Verse 18, Yahweh is righteous. I have rebelled. Down here in verse 22, we've been dealt severely with, but for our transgressions.

And we're going to see as we move through this book, that slow turn going from sin and lamenting and this is what's happened to us.

And this is our sin to repentance and turning to God and the mercies that are new every morning and the hope that comes from trusting in God.

And this is not just what they went through, because as we know in history, they did eventually come back to the land, rebuild the temple.

And then, you know, in book of Haggai, the older ones are saying, it's nothing like what it was before. The young ones like, typical.

And they're like, eh, it's not quite like it was. But you see all that happens in the history of the people.

But in your own life, you can see this pattern. You can understand how your sin affects you, where it took you.

You've no doubt been like me. You've been at times when you've been left defeated and alone. But you don't have to stay that way.

You can come out of it. Repentance, faith in Christ.

If you're unsaved, you need to repent of your sin and put your full faith and trust in Jesus Christ. You'll find him to be a perfect savior.

His sacrifice on the cross of Calvary was the exact payment for sin that God accepted.

And so he does make atonement for the sins of his people. So you can stand justified before the

Father. You can have eternal life. And in your life, as sin should be throughout your maturing process, decreasing in its effect on you.

As we talked about with 1 John, it talked about we're children of light. We have fellowship with God. So we should be getting cleansed from sin.

We should be sinning less and less as we grow in maturity. Sin should be getting removed, more righteousness coming in.

Not because we are doing it for our standing before God or to make ourselves anything, but because it's the inwardness, the inward change in us when we're a new creation in Christ.

He saves us. He puts his spirit in us. And then that spirit works, that righteousness works itself out to show on the outside.

We're not about outward conformity. It's not about dressing up real pretty, putting on that nice coat of paint and making everything look real good when inside you're crumbling and dying.

No, it's about God transforming from the inside out. And part of that transformation, part of the maturity that comes from living in Christ's likeness is recognizing your sin quicker and quicker, dealing with and repenting of it quicker so that you can keep on increasing in your sanctification, being set apart as holy and growing in righteousness.

And we have so much of the Old Testament as our example of how God dealt with his people. And we have examples today and we can see where people fall and people rise.

And those that rise and stay risen and do well are those that are rooted in the Word of God.

And those that fall, well, they had a pretty outside and they probably had a nice coat of paint, but inside there was sin and there was rebellion.

So I encourage you to repent of your sin. I encourage you to make repentance one of the chief functions of your life.

When sin happens and you give into your flesh and it's warring with your spirit and you find yourself in some sin, be quick to stop and say, you know,

Lord, I'm sorry, this was wrong. Now set me back on the right path. Amen? Well, I hope you enjoyed this look into Lamentations today as we are going through this book on our

God -centered Bible study. I encourage you to go back and watch the episodes you may have missed and we'll catch back up with you next time.