A Desperate longing
Series: Hope in Despair
Speaker: Steve Jeffrey
Date: 14th November 2021
Passage: Lamentations 5:1-22
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 All right, change gears, let's jump into Lamentations 5.
00:00:06 --> 00:00:08 And it is a significant change of gears.
00:00:09 --> 00:00:11 I remember this week particularly well.
00:00:11 --> 00:00:12 It was 2003.
00:00:13 --> 00:00:19 A few weeks earlier, from this particular day,
00:00:20 --> 00:00:27 a young couple at church had given birth to their first child, a girl.
00:00:27 --> 00:00:31 And this child, they were told, had a heart problem.
00:00:32 --> 00:00:37 It was a significant heart problem that the doctors said
00:00:37 --> 00:00:41 they were not able to resolve and the child would die.
00:00:43 --> 00:00:46 It was a very emotional time.
00:00:46 --> 00:00:48 Very emotional time.
00:00:50 --> 00:00:52 On the day that she died,
00:00:53 --> 00:00:56 I walked into a hospital waiting room at Westmead Hospital
00:00:56 --> 00:00:58 to support another young couple
00:00:58 --> 00:01:02 whose doctors were about to update them
00:01:02 --> 00:01:05 on the well-being of their first child.
00:01:07 --> 00:01:11 It was a couple who I had married a few years earlier.
00:01:11 --> 00:01:12 They were not Christians.
00:01:13 --> 00:01:17 This little child was also born with a heart condition.
00:01:17 --> 00:01:19 And at six months of age,
00:01:20 --> 00:01:24 they decided to do surgery, to rectify it.
00:01:24 --> 00:01:28 They said it would be a pretty straightforward procedure.
00:01:31 --> 00:01:32 It went wrong.
00:01:33 --> 00:01:35 It went horribly wrong.
00:01:35 --> 00:01:41 And I sat with this couple as this significant medical team
00:01:41 --> 00:01:44 told them that they were doing all that they could,
00:01:45 --> 00:01:49 but their little boy at this stage had a 50-50 chance of survival.
00:01:49 --> 00:01:55 In that moment of an outpouring of grief,
00:01:56 --> 00:02:01 the mum turned to me and asked me two things.
00:02:03 --> 00:02:07 Steve, why is God doing this to us?
00:02:07 --> 00:02:15 And secondly, can you pray for us right now?
00:02:18 --> 00:02:22 The surgeon agreed that was a good idea.
00:02:23 --> 00:02:27 Any help would be appreciated in this moment.
00:02:28 --> 00:02:30 And if prayers are comfort for you, then let's do that.
00:02:31 --> 00:02:32 And they all bowed their heads.
00:02:32 --> 00:02:35 On the way home from the hospital,
00:02:36 --> 00:02:41 I cried out to God in that moment from deep anguish.
00:02:42 --> 00:02:45 So much so I had to, in fact, pull the car over
00:02:45 --> 00:02:48 to the side of the road
00:02:48 --> 00:02:53 because the windscreen wipers weren't removing the water
00:02:53 --> 00:02:55 that was in front of me.
00:02:55 --> 00:02:58 It was just my tears made everything blurry.
00:02:58 --> 00:03:02 I sat on the side of the road and I sobbed
00:03:02 --> 00:03:04 and I pleaded with God.
00:03:05 --> 00:03:08 I pleaded with him to save a life.
00:03:09 --> 00:03:12 It was not just a simple matter of sorrow.
00:03:12 --> 00:03:15 It was just desperation.
00:03:17 --> 00:03:18 God intervened.
00:03:18 --> 00:03:18 God intervened.
00:03:18 --> 00:03:19 God intervened.
00:03:25 --> 00:03:28 Lamentations is a book
00:03:28 --> 00:03:31 that gets us ready for moments like that.
00:03:31 --> 00:03:33 When the phone rings
00:03:33 --> 00:03:36 and you receive the worst possible news
00:03:36 --> 00:03:37 you could receive.
00:03:38 --> 00:03:40 That's what Lamentations does for us.
00:03:40 --> 00:03:41 As one person,
00:03:42 --> 00:03:46 I heard them say in a moment of terrible hardship
00:03:46 --> 00:03:50 as their loved one was dying slowly,
00:03:52 --> 00:03:54 someone with deep Christian faith,
00:03:54 --> 00:03:55 they said,
00:03:56 --> 00:03:58 you've got to have the roof up
00:03:58 --> 00:04:01 if you want shelter in the storm.
00:04:04 --> 00:04:06 No good trying to put it up in the storm.
00:04:06 --> 00:04:08 You've got to have it up
00:04:08 --> 00:04:10 if you want shelter in the storm.
00:04:10 --> 00:04:13 And Lamentations puts the roof on
00:04:13 --> 00:04:14 before the storm hits.
00:04:14 --> 00:04:17 Gets us ready for those storms of life.
00:04:17 --> 00:04:21 In a world that is as broken as our world is,
00:04:22 --> 00:04:24 ravaged by sin as our world is,
00:04:25 --> 00:04:27 we are frankly naive
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 if we do not make preparation for loss,
00:04:31 --> 00:04:33 for heartbreak, for tragedy.
00:04:34 --> 00:04:35 It's the case of when,
00:04:36 --> 00:04:37 not if.
00:04:39 --> 00:04:40 So if you've just tuned in to us
00:04:40 --> 00:04:42 at St. Paul's here for the first time,
00:04:42 --> 00:04:44 we've been journeying through this topic of lament.
00:04:45 --> 00:04:48 Lament is how we bring our sorrow to God.
00:04:48 --> 00:04:52 And we've been discovering a whole heap about lament
00:04:52 --> 00:04:53 and in this book of Lamentations.
00:04:55 --> 00:04:57 It's a collection of five poems of lament
00:04:57 --> 00:04:58 by the prophet Jeremiah.
00:04:59 --> 00:05:00 And we're up to the fifth lament.
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 The whole chapter, in fact,
00:05:03 --> 00:05:04 is a prayer.
00:05:05 --> 00:05:07 And there are three main elements to this prayer.
00:05:07 --> 00:05:09 This prayer is broken into three main elements.
00:05:09 --> 00:05:11 It's got three structures.
00:05:12 --> 00:05:15 And each of these elements is, if you like,
00:05:15 --> 00:05:18 a, let's just take the analogy of the roof thing.
00:05:19 --> 00:05:21 Each of these three main elements
00:05:21 --> 00:05:24 are three support beams
00:05:24 --> 00:05:27 that hold the roof up
00:05:27 --> 00:05:30 for when the storm hits.
00:05:30 --> 00:05:33 The first one, if you go to your St. Paul's app,
00:05:33 --> 00:05:35 you'll see the three-point outline there.
00:05:35 --> 00:05:36 It's just three beams.
00:05:36 --> 00:05:38 The first support beam
00:05:38 --> 00:05:41 is a biblical understanding of sin
00:05:41 --> 00:05:44 and its consequences for everything in this world.
00:05:44 --> 00:05:45 It touches everything.
00:05:45 --> 00:05:48 Sin ruins everything.
00:05:49 --> 00:05:51 Now, Lamentations is written in response
00:05:51 --> 00:05:55 to the devastating siege and destruction of Jerusalem
00:05:55 --> 00:05:59 by the Babylonian Empire in 587 BC.
00:05:59 --> 00:06:02 And we know from earlier bits of Lamentations
00:06:02 --> 00:06:05 that this is a deserved suffering.
00:06:06 --> 00:06:08 God has judged his people
00:06:08 --> 00:06:11 for generation after generation of rebellion.
00:06:12 --> 00:06:14 They spurned God's love.
00:06:14 --> 00:06:16 They rejected his word.
00:06:16 --> 00:06:18 They persecuted his prophets.
00:06:19 --> 00:06:21 And chapter five, as we launch into that,
00:06:22 --> 00:06:26 it's the aftermath of the destruction.
00:06:26 --> 00:06:29 It's like the tornado has gone through
00:06:29 --> 00:06:32 and we are now sitting in the rubble.
00:06:33 --> 00:06:35 This is the weeks and the months that followed,
00:06:35 --> 00:06:36 the siege, the destruction,
00:06:36 --> 00:06:39 the deportation of the elite to Babylon.
00:06:40 --> 00:06:43 And so chapter five is a prayer
00:06:43 --> 00:06:46 from the top of the rubble of Jerusalem.
00:06:48 --> 00:06:49 Jeremiah sits there
00:06:49 --> 00:06:54 as the jackals surround and feed on the human corpses.
00:06:56 --> 00:06:59 It's a moment where the atrocities continue.
00:06:59 --> 00:07:01 There's no UN peacekeeping force here.
00:07:03 --> 00:07:06 So this chapter is intensely human.
00:07:07 --> 00:07:10 These chapters are so much more,
00:07:11 --> 00:07:15 sorry, they are as much about the experience of suffering
00:07:15 --> 00:07:19 as they are about the cause of the suffering.
00:07:21 --> 00:07:23 And so what you see right through Lamentations
00:07:23 --> 00:07:27 is this struggle between the head and the heart
00:07:27 --> 00:07:31 or the theological acceptance of it
00:07:31 --> 00:07:33 and the moral outrage of it at the same time.
00:07:34 --> 00:07:36 It's this emotions and logic going together
00:07:36 --> 00:07:39 all the way through Lamentations.
00:07:41 --> 00:07:42 That's chapter five.
00:07:42 --> 00:07:44 In other words, if we go through Lamentations
00:07:44 --> 00:07:45 and don't feel anything,
00:07:46 --> 00:07:47 we've missed it.
00:07:48 --> 00:07:49 Go back and read it again.
00:07:53 --> 00:07:59 Verse one is a simple plea for Yahweh,
00:07:59 --> 00:08:01 their covenant making God to,
00:08:02 --> 00:08:06 their promise keeping God to simply look and see.
00:08:06 --> 00:08:09 Do not turn your face away.
00:08:09 --> 00:08:12 Look at our disgrace.
00:08:13 --> 00:08:17 Now this is simply more than asking God not to forget.
00:08:18 --> 00:08:22 This is a plea for him to intervene
00:08:22 --> 00:08:25 based on his love and his promises.
00:08:27 --> 00:08:29 And the beginning of chapter two
00:08:29 --> 00:08:32 is a, if you like, not so subtle reminder
00:08:32 --> 00:08:35 to God of his promises.
00:08:35 --> 00:08:39 And it's just there in the word inheritance.
00:08:42 --> 00:08:44 You see, an inheritance is,
00:08:45 --> 00:08:46 it's a gift.
00:08:47 --> 00:08:49 It's not earned.
00:08:50 --> 00:08:52 The land, the city, the temple,
00:08:53 --> 00:08:54 it was all a gift from God.
00:08:56 --> 00:08:58 All that Israel had,
00:08:58 --> 00:09:00 all that they were was God's gift to them.
00:09:00 --> 00:09:02 That's how they came to be here in the first place,
00:09:02 --> 00:09:04 because of God's gift.
00:09:05 --> 00:09:07 It wasn't because they were lovely
00:09:07 --> 00:09:09 that God loved them
00:09:09 --> 00:09:11 and made him his special people.
00:09:12 --> 00:09:14 There was nothing lovely about them,
00:09:14 --> 00:09:16 nothing special about them in the beginning.
00:09:16 --> 00:09:18 And there's nothing lovely about them now.
00:09:20 --> 00:09:23 God had made them his people.
00:09:23 --> 00:09:25 He loved the unlovely.
00:09:26 --> 00:09:28 He loved the small, the weak, the insignificant.
00:09:29 --> 00:09:31 God made them something.
00:09:31 --> 00:09:33 He gave them this inheritance.
00:09:36 --> 00:09:38 And so Jeremiah calls,
00:09:38 --> 00:09:41 with the people left in the rubble,
00:09:42 --> 00:09:45 calls on God not to turn away,
00:09:45 --> 00:09:48 but to look and see your inheritance.
00:09:48 --> 00:09:53 Look at the devastation that lingers on.
00:09:55 --> 00:09:58 And as you go through the first section,
00:09:58 --> 00:10:03 you just see the somber residing of Jerusalem's degradation,
00:10:04 --> 00:10:08 their occupation, abandonment, bereavement, thirst,
00:10:09 --> 00:10:11 their poverty, the inflation, the invasion,
00:10:11 --> 00:10:14 the famine, the despondency, the slavery,
00:10:14 --> 00:10:19 the exposure, the rape, the humiliation, the exhaustion.
00:10:23 --> 00:10:24 Why does this happen?
00:10:24 --> 00:10:25 Verse 7,
00:10:25 --> 00:10:29 Our ancestors sinned and are no more,
00:10:29 --> 00:10:31 and we bear their punishment.
00:10:33 --> 00:10:35 God had given them good gifts.
00:10:36 --> 00:10:37 He had given them an inheritance.
00:10:37 --> 00:10:38 He had saved them.
00:10:39 --> 00:10:41 And yet generation after generation,
00:10:41 --> 00:10:44 they had spurned his goodness.
00:10:44 --> 00:10:46 They had ignored his word.
00:10:48 --> 00:10:51 And so God's judgment came upon his people
00:10:51 --> 00:10:52 for their constant rejection.
00:10:53 --> 00:10:56 But the current generation are not innocent, though.
00:10:56 --> 00:10:56 It's not like they go,
00:10:57 --> 00:10:58 well, you know, we're suffering because of those guys.
00:11:01 --> 00:11:02 Verse 16,
00:11:03 --> 00:11:06 The crown has fallen from our head.
00:11:07 --> 00:11:07 Woe to us,
00:11:08 --> 00:11:11 for we have sinned.
00:11:11 --> 00:11:14 Another way of stating that is,
00:11:15 --> 00:11:18 if only we had never sinned.
00:11:19 --> 00:11:21 They'd taken responsibility.
00:11:23 --> 00:11:25 Sin was the reason Jerusalem had fallen.
00:11:25 --> 00:11:29 God's people had rejected their God again and again.
00:11:30 --> 00:11:32 But this current generation had done it too.
00:11:32 --> 00:11:35 You see,
00:11:35 --> 00:11:39 Jeremiah's prophecy of this destruction of Jerusalem
00:11:39 --> 00:11:41 could not have been any clearer.
00:11:43 --> 00:11:48 Jeremiah 19 lays out the details of the destruction of Jerusalem
00:11:48 --> 00:11:52 because of the sin and the idolatry of the people.
00:11:52 --> 00:11:56 And what happens to Jeremiah as he comes in,
00:11:56 --> 00:12:01 brings the word of God to the people of Judah in these days,
00:12:01 --> 00:12:04 for like four decades leading up to this moment,
00:12:04 --> 00:12:05 what happens?
00:12:05 --> 00:12:08 They beat him.
00:12:08 --> 00:12:11 They put him into prison.
00:12:12 --> 00:12:12 Later,
00:12:12 --> 00:12:14 he's thrown into a sewer.
00:12:14 --> 00:12:15 With the expectation,
00:12:16 --> 00:12:16 he will die.
00:12:18 --> 00:12:22 The people of Jerusalem had turned their backs on God's word
00:12:22 --> 00:12:24 and his prophets again and again.
00:12:25 --> 00:12:27 They arrogantly and tragically forgot.
00:12:28 --> 00:12:30 Everything that they had was a good gift from God.
00:12:30 --> 00:12:30 Everything.
00:12:30 --> 00:12:31 Everything.
00:12:31 --> 00:12:31 Everything.
00:12:31 --> 00:12:31 Everything.
00:12:31 --> 00:12:31 Everything.
00:12:31 --> 00:12:31 Everything.
00:12:31 --> 00:12:33 Everything.
00:12:33 --> 00:12:37 So that's the first beam.
00:12:39 --> 00:12:42 First beam to remember when the storms of life hit,
00:12:42 --> 00:12:46 the Bible makes it absolutely clear that none of us are innocent.
00:12:48 --> 00:12:49 None of us.
00:12:49 --> 00:12:52 Romans 3 tells us that all have gone our own way.
00:12:52 --> 00:12:54 All of us have rejected God.
00:12:54 --> 00:12:55 We have all sinned.
00:12:57 --> 00:13:01 And everything wrong in this world is connected to that.
00:13:03 --> 00:13:04 None of us are innocent.
00:13:05 --> 00:13:07 God created a good world.
00:13:07 --> 00:13:09 He designed humanity to live in obedience to him
00:13:09 --> 00:13:12 and discover joy and freedom forever.
00:13:13 --> 00:13:16 And when the first people rebelled against God,
00:13:16 --> 00:13:17 it broke everything.
00:13:18 --> 00:13:21 Everything wrong in this world is a consequence of sin,
00:13:21 --> 00:13:23 either directly or indirectly.
00:13:23 --> 00:13:28 And so the first beam is crucial here.
00:13:29 --> 00:13:35 A Christian therefore echoes the words of the tax collector in Luke 18,
00:13:35 --> 00:13:36 verse 13,
00:13:36 --> 00:13:38 who beats his chest and says,
00:13:39 --> 00:13:41 Lord, have mercy on me,
00:13:42 --> 00:13:42 the sinner,
00:13:44 --> 00:13:45 the model sinner.
00:13:45 --> 00:13:52 The Christian echoes the Lord's prayer from the heart.
00:13:52 --> 00:13:54 Forgive me my sin
00:13:54 --> 00:13:58 as I forgive the sins of others.
00:14:00 --> 00:14:01 The Christian sees their sin,
00:14:01 --> 00:14:03 however much they have been sinned against.
00:14:04 --> 00:14:08 It's so important to have a healthy theology of sin.
00:14:08 --> 00:14:15 And what generations of rebellion against God has done to this world.
00:14:15 --> 00:14:16 If we do not,
00:14:17 --> 00:14:20 we tend to put our head in a bucket of sand,
00:14:20 --> 00:14:22 declare that we are basically good,
00:14:24 --> 00:14:26 and that God owes me a trouble-free life.
00:14:29 --> 00:14:31 That's naivety.
00:14:31 --> 00:14:34 God owes us nothing.
00:14:35 --> 00:14:38 It is secular humanism that says,
00:14:38 --> 00:14:40 my life should be upward and advancing,
00:14:41 --> 00:14:42 and everything works for my good.
00:14:57 --> 00:14:59 If Lockie and Rosie go into next Saturday,
00:14:59 --> 00:15:03 make promises to one another,
00:15:05 --> 00:15:05 and just say,
00:15:05 --> 00:15:06 in the good and the bad,
00:15:07 --> 00:15:07 or leave out the bad,
00:15:07 --> 00:15:08 just the good,
00:15:09 --> 00:15:11 take everything negative out,
00:15:12 --> 00:15:15 they will not have the resources to endure in marriage.
00:15:20 --> 00:15:21 Every sorrow,
00:15:22 --> 00:15:22 every tear,
00:15:23 --> 00:15:24 all pain,
00:15:24 --> 00:15:25 every loss,
00:15:25 --> 00:15:26 gives evidence
00:15:26 --> 00:15:28 of the brokenness in our world
00:15:28 --> 00:15:29 caused by sin.
00:15:30 --> 00:15:33 Something is terribly wrong with our world,
00:15:34 --> 00:15:36 every culture,
00:15:36 --> 00:15:39 and inside of every single one of us.
00:15:40 --> 00:15:42 And it's crucial that we understand
00:15:42 --> 00:15:46 that God does not owe us an inheritance.
00:15:47 --> 00:15:51 He does not owe us a trouble-freed life.
00:15:51 --> 00:15:57 Secondly,
00:15:58 --> 00:15:58 however,
00:15:58 --> 00:15:59 what's amazing here,
00:16:00 --> 00:16:01 after acknowledging sin
00:16:01 --> 00:16:04 and recounting 18 verses
00:16:04 --> 00:16:06 of consequences of sin,
00:16:06 --> 00:16:08 verse 18 starts with the word,
00:16:09 --> 00:16:10 not in the NIV,
00:16:10 --> 00:16:12 but it starts with the word,
00:16:12 --> 00:16:13 but,
00:16:14 --> 00:16:15 but,
00:16:15 --> 00:16:18 you've got to love the word,
00:16:18 --> 00:16:18 but,
00:16:21 --> 00:16:21 and this,
00:16:21 --> 00:16:24 verse 19 is in fact the center point
00:16:24 --> 00:16:25 of this whole chapter.
00:16:26 --> 00:16:28 And it's the second support beam
00:16:28 --> 00:16:30 of the roof of our lives
00:16:30 --> 00:16:31 when the storms of life hit.
00:16:31 --> 00:16:33 It's verse 19,
00:16:33 --> 00:16:33 you,
00:16:34 --> 00:16:34 Lord,
00:16:35 --> 00:16:35 or,
00:16:35 --> 00:16:36 but you,
00:16:36 --> 00:16:37 Lord,
00:16:37 --> 00:16:38 reign forever.
00:16:38 --> 00:16:41 your throne endures
00:16:41 --> 00:16:42 from generation to generation.
00:16:43 --> 00:16:45 God is in control.
00:16:45 --> 00:16:47 Sin and its consequences
00:16:47 --> 00:16:48 are not the end of the story.
00:16:49 --> 00:16:50 That's the big but.
00:16:51 --> 00:16:52 Everything in this chapter,
00:16:52 --> 00:16:53 in this book,
00:16:53 --> 00:16:56 circles around verse 19.
00:16:57 --> 00:17:00 This is the spiritual reorientation for Judah.
00:17:01 --> 00:17:01 You see,
00:17:01 --> 00:17:04 God's stern discipline of Judah
00:17:04 --> 00:17:06 has awakened in them
00:17:06 --> 00:17:09 a sense of their sinfulness
00:17:09 --> 00:17:11 and their worthlessness
00:17:11 --> 00:17:12 and their helplessness.
00:17:13 --> 00:17:15 It has broken her pride
00:17:15 --> 00:17:16 and humbled her.
00:17:16 --> 00:17:17 It is very,
00:17:18 --> 00:17:18 you know,
00:17:18 --> 00:17:20 it makes sense
00:17:20 --> 00:17:22 that they should be humbled.
00:17:22 --> 00:17:24 They're sitting on the rubble
00:17:24 --> 00:17:24 of Jerusalem.
00:17:27 --> 00:17:29 And yet for sometimes,
00:17:29 --> 00:17:32 it's not so easy for us to go there.
00:17:34 --> 00:17:35 Our lives can be a rumble.
00:17:36 --> 00:17:39 And yet we still wave the fist to God.
00:17:39 --> 00:17:40 Someone owes me.
00:17:43 --> 00:17:44 Sometimes suffering
00:17:44 --> 00:17:46 drives us further into pride.
00:17:48 --> 00:17:49 Self-assurance,
00:17:49 --> 00:17:50 self-confidence.
00:17:51 --> 00:17:52 But here it's humbledom.
00:17:54 --> 00:17:56 And it's only from this humble position
00:17:56 --> 00:17:58 that Judah invokes God's compassion
00:17:58 --> 00:17:59 and his grace.
00:17:59 --> 00:18:00 Jeremiah confesses
00:18:00 --> 00:18:01 that everything works
00:18:01 --> 00:18:02 according to the decree
00:18:02 --> 00:18:04 and the purpose of the creator.
00:18:04 --> 00:18:06 Every event in life
00:18:06 --> 00:18:08 moves towards the fulfillment
00:18:08 --> 00:18:09 of his plans,
00:18:09 --> 00:18:11 the plans that he ordains,
00:18:12 --> 00:18:13 including the destruction
00:18:13 --> 00:18:16 of Jerusalem under his judgment.
00:18:16 --> 00:18:17 The covenant God,
00:18:17 --> 00:18:19 in his sovereign rule,
00:18:20 --> 00:18:23 has destroyed his city,
00:18:23 --> 00:18:25 his temple,
00:18:25 --> 00:18:26 his people
00:18:26 --> 00:18:30 through the conquest
00:18:30 --> 00:18:35 of his Babylonians.
00:18:37 --> 00:18:38 Babylon,
00:18:38 --> 00:18:41 the most powerful empire
00:18:41 --> 00:18:42 in the world,
00:18:42 --> 00:18:44 was simply doing his bidding.
00:18:44 --> 00:18:48 Now we get the same thinking
00:18:48 --> 00:18:50 if you fast forward
00:18:50 --> 00:18:51 to Acts chapter 4
00:18:51 --> 00:18:52 where we are told
00:18:52 --> 00:18:53 the sin of Pilate,
00:18:54 --> 00:18:56 the sin of the Roman soldiers,
00:18:57 --> 00:18:59 the sin of the chief priests,
00:18:59 --> 00:19:01 and the sin of the people
00:19:01 --> 00:19:03 conspired together
00:19:03 --> 00:19:06 to crucify Jesus.
00:19:06 --> 00:19:09 And then we are told
00:19:09 --> 00:19:10 in Acts 4 verse 28,
00:19:10 --> 00:19:13 they did what your power
00:19:13 --> 00:19:14 and will
00:19:14 --> 00:19:16 had decided beforehand
00:19:16 --> 00:19:18 should happen.
00:19:21 --> 00:19:22 Now they're responsible
00:19:22 --> 00:19:22 for their sin.
00:19:24 --> 00:19:25 It's a terrible thing
00:19:25 --> 00:19:26 for which God
00:19:26 --> 00:19:27 will hold them accountable,
00:19:28 --> 00:19:30 but they cannot stop
00:19:30 --> 00:19:31 God being God.
00:19:31 --> 00:19:35 Just think about that
00:19:35 --> 00:19:36 for a moment.
00:19:37 --> 00:19:39 You must be
00:19:39 --> 00:19:40 very,
00:19:40 --> 00:19:42 very,
00:19:42 --> 00:19:45 very powerful
00:19:45 --> 00:19:47 to have your enemies
00:19:47 --> 00:19:51 fulfill your plans
00:19:51 --> 00:19:53 while working against you.
00:19:56 --> 00:19:57 That's incomprehensible
00:19:57 --> 00:19:58 to me.
00:19:58 --> 00:20:01 I had to even think
00:20:01 --> 00:20:02 about that sentence
00:20:02 --> 00:20:03 several times.
00:20:06 --> 00:20:07 And yet this is how
00:20:07 --> 00:20:08 the Bible tells us
00:20:08 --> 00:20:09 to think about God
00:20:09 --> 00:20:10 and his sovereign rule
00:20:10 --> 00:20:10 over all things.
00:20:11 --> 00:20:12 All else may change
00:20:12 --> 00:20:13 and will change,
00:20:13 --> 00:20:14 but God does not.
00:20:15 --> 00:20:15 God's rule
00:20:15 --> 00:20:16 over all things
00:20:16 --> 00:20:17 as opposed
00:20:17 --> 00:20:18 to what
00:20:18 --> 00:20:20 we might call
00:20:20 --> 00:20:20 chance
00:20:20 --> 00:20:21 or fate
00:20:21 --> 00:20:22 or luck
00:20:22 --> 00:20:24 in our society.
00:20:25 --> 00:20:25 Everything
00:20:25 --> 00:20:26 may fluctuate,
00:20:27 --> 00:20:27 our times
00:20:27 --> 00:20:28 and our circumstances
00:20:28 --> 00:20:29 may grow harder
00:20:29 --> 00:20:30 and more difficult,
00:20:30 --> 00:20:31 but God is in control
00:20:31 --> 00:20:32 of the situation.
00:20:34 --> 00:20:34 The presence
00:20:34 --> 00:20:35 of pain,
00:20:36 --> 00:20:37 no matter
00:20:37 --> 00:20:39 how strong,
00:20:40 --> 00:20:41 does not negate
00:20:41 --> 00:20:42 the plan of God.
00:20:43 --> 00:20:44 No matter
00:20:44 --> 00:20:45 how much it seems
00:20:45 --> 00:20:45 that the world
00:20:45 --> 00:20:47 is collecting around us,
00:20:47 --> 00:20:49 God is on his throne
00:20:49 --> 00:20:51 and he is always
00:20:51 --> 00:20:52 fulfilling his plans.
00:20:52 --> 00:20:57 Now it is essential
00:20:57 --> 00:21:00 that we do not
00:21:00 --> 00:21:00 stop there
00:21:00 --> 00:21:02 with just
00:21:02 --> 00:21:03 those two beams.
00:21:05 --> 00:21:06 If we do,
00:21:07 --> 00:21:08 what happens
00:21:08 --> 00:21:09 is
00:21:09 --> 00:21:11 we slip
00:21:11 --> 00:21:12 into a
00:21:12 --> 00:21:13 nothing more
00:21:13 --> 00:21:14 than a fatalism.
00:21:16 --> 00:21:17 In actual fact,
00:21:18 --> 00:21:19 what we do
00:21:19 --> 00:21:19 is we slip
00:21:19 --> 00:21:20 into the theology
00:21:20 --> 00:21:21 of Islam
00:21:21 --> 00:21:22 if we just
00:21:22 --> 00:21:23 stop there?
00:21:24 --> 00:21:25 It's the will
00:21:25 --> 00:21:25 of Allah.
00:21:27 --> 00:21:27 Nothing you
00:21:27 --> 00:21:28 can do about it.
00:21:29 --> 00:21:29 We are just
00:21:29 --> 00:21:30 mere pawns
00:21:30 --> 00:21:31 in his plans.
00:21:33 --> 00:21:34 What's the difference
00:21:34 --> 00:21:37 between,
00:21:38 --> 00:21:39 amongst many
00:21:39 --> 00:21:39 other things,
00:21:40 --> 00:21:40 between Islam
00:21:40 --> 00:21:41 and Christianity?
00:21:42 --> 00:21:43 Beam number
00:21:43 --> 00:21:43 three.
00:21:45 --> 00:21:46 Beam number
00:21:46 --> 00:21:46 three.
00:21:46 --> 00:21:49 relationship.
00:21:50 --> 00:21:51 God
00:21:51 --> 00:21:51 is
00:21:51 --> 00:21:52 good.
00:21:53 --> 00:21:54 He's beam
00:21:54 --> 00:21:54 number
00:21:54 --> 00:21:54 three.
00:21:57 --> 00:21:58 God
00:21:58 --> 00:21:59 comes to us
00:21:59 --> 00:22:00 in our
00:22:00 --> 00:22:00 suffering.
00:22:02 --> 00:22:02 He's not
00:22:02 --> 00:22:03 Aristotle's
00:22:03 --> 00:22:03 unmoved
00:22:03 --> 00:22:04 mover
00:22:04 --> 00:22:05 at a distance.
00:22:06 --> 00:22:07 He comes
00:22:07 --> 00:22:08 to us
00:22:08 --> 00:22:08 in our
00:22:08 --> 00:22:09 suffering
00:22:09 --> 00:22:09 and that's
00:22:09 --> 00:22:10 why
00:22:10 --> 00:22:11 Lamentations
00:22:11 --> 00:22:11 doesn't end
00:22:11 --> 00:22:12 with verse
00:22:12 --> 00:22:13 19.
00:22:13 --> 00:22:14 If it did,
00:22:14 --> 00:22:15 the application
00:22:15 --> 00:22:15 would be
00:22:15 --> 00:22:16 very trite
00:22:16 --> 00:22:17 for us.
00:22:17 --> 00:22:17 It would
00:22:17 --> 00:22:18 be nothing
00:22:18 --> 00:22:19 more than,
00:22:19 --> 00:22:19 well,
00:22:19 --> 00:22:20 always look
00:22:20 --> 00:22:21 on the
00:22:21 --> 00:22:22 bright side
00:22:22 --> 00:22:22 of life.
00:22:25 --> 00:22:26 Nothing
00:22:26 --> 00:22:26 more than
00:22:26 --> 00:22:26 that.
00:22:28 --> 00:22:29 Or,
00:22:29 --> 00:22:30 there's always
00:22:30 --> 00:22:30 a silver
00:22:30 --> 00:22:31 lining,
00:22:31 --> 00:22:31 you just
00:22:31 --> 00:22:31 got to
00:22:31 --> 00:22:31 look for
00:22:31 --> 00:22:32 it,
00:22:32 --> 00:22:32 or,
00:22:32 --> 00:22:34 you will
00:22:34 --> 00:22:34 rise like
00:22:34 --> 00:22:35 a phoenix
00:22:35 --> 00:22:35 from the
00:22:35 --> 00:22:36 ashes.
00:22:38 --> 00:22:39 The Christian
00:22:39 --> 00:22:40 hope is not
00:22:40 --> 00:22:41 just that God
00:22:41 --> 00:22:42 is in control,
00:22:42 --> 00:22:42 but that he's
00:22:42 --> 00:22:43 good.
00:22:43 --> 00:22:44 fundamental
00:22:44 --> 00:22:45 third
00:22:45 --> 00:22:45 being,
00:22:46 --> 00:22:46 he is
00:22:46 --> 00:22:47 good.
00:22:48 --> 00:22:48 And so
00:22:48 --> 00:22:49 in verse
00:22:49 --> 00:22:49 20,
00:22:50 --> 00:22:50 we are
00:22:50 --> 00:22:51 back into
00:22:51 --> 00:22:51 the darkness
00:22:51 --> 00:22:52 and the
00:22:52 --> 00:22:52 death.
00:22:53 --> 00:22:53 Why do
00:22:53 --> 00:22:54 you always
00:22:54 --> 00:22:55 forget us?
00:22:55 --> 00:22:56 Why do
00:22:56 --> 00:22:57 you forsake
00:22:57 --> 00:22:57 us so
00:22:57 --> 00:22:58 long?
00:22:58 --> 00:22:58 And here
00:22:58 --> 00:22:59 we have
00:22:59 --> 00:23:00 a plea
00:23:00 --> 00:23:02 to God's
00:23:02 --> 00:23:02 goodness,
00:23:04 --> 00:23:05 which echoes
00:23:05 --> 00:23:07 verse 1,
00:23:07 --> 00:23:07 and it ends
00:23:07 --> 00:23:08 in the same
00:23:08 --> 00:23:09 kind of way.
00:23:09 --> 00:23:10 restore us
00:23:10 --> 00:23:11 to yourself,
00:23:11 --> 00:23:12 Lord,
00:23:12 --> 00:23:12 that we
00:23:12 --> 00:23:13 may return,
00:23:14 --> 00:23:15 renew our
00:23:15 --> 00:23:16 days as
00:23:16 --> 00:23:16 of old,
00:23:16 --> 00:23:17 unless you
00:23:17 --> 00:23:18 have utterly
00:23:18 --> 00:23:18 rejected us
00:23:18 --> 00:23:19 and are
00:23:19 --> 00:23:20 angry with
00:23:20 --> 00:23:21 us beyond
00:23:21 --> 00:23:21 measure.
00:23:23 --> 00:23:24 One
00:23:24 --> 00:23:24 commentator
00:23:24 --> 00:23:25 says that
00:23:25 --> 00:23:26 lamentation
00:23:26 --> 00:23:28 ends like
00:23:28 --> 00:23:29 it does
00:23:29 --> 00:23:29 because
00:23:29 --> 00:23:31 Jeremiah and
00:23:31 --> 00:23:31 Jerusalem
00:23:31 --> 00:23:33 are in a
00:23:33 --> 00:23:34 position akin
00:23:34 --> 00:23:34 to the
00:23:34 --> 00:23:35 disciples on
00:23:35 --> 00:23:36 Easter
00:23:36 --> 00:23:37 Saturday.
00:23:40 --> 00:23:40 The hope
00:23:40 --> 00:23:41 of the
00:23:41 --> 00:23:41 resurrection
00:23:41 --> 00:23:42 Easter day
00:23:42 --> 00:23:42 is yet
00:23:42 --> 00:23:43 to dawn
00:23:43 --> 00:23:43 for them.
00:23:45 --> 00:23:46 There is
00:23:46 --> 00:23:46 waiting,
00:23:47 --> 00:23:47 longing
00:23:47 --> 00:23:50 for hope
00:23:50 --> 00:23:50 to dawn.
00:23:53 --> 00:23:54 And while
00:23:54 --> 00:23:54 we wait,
00:23:54 --> 00:23:55 we need to
00:23:55 --> 00:23:56 hold both
00:23:56 --> 00:23:56 the sovereignty
00:23:56 --> 00:23:57 of God
00:23:57 --> 00:23:57 and the
00:23:57 --> 00:23:57 goodness of
00:23:57 --> 00:23:58 God in
00:23:58 --> 00:23:58 equal measure.
00:24:00 --> 00:24:00 The plea
00:24:00 --> 00:24:01 in verses
00:24:01 --> 00:24:01 20 and
00:24:01 --> 00:24:02 21 is
00:24:02 --> 00:24:02 simply,
00:24:03 --> 00:24:03 God,
00:24:03 --> 00:24:03 this hurts,
00:24:03 --> 00:24:04 help us.
00:24:06 --> 00:24:06 But the
00:24:06 --> 00:24:07 main words
00:24:07 --> 00:24:08 there are
00:24:08 --> 00:24:09 restore,
00:24:10 --> 00:24:11 return,
00:24:12 --> 00:24:12 renew.
00:24:15 --> 00:24:15 Verse 21,
00:24:15 --> 00:24:16 restore us
00:24:16 --> 00:24:17 to yourself,
00:24:17 --> 00:24:17 O Lord.
00:24:17 --> 00:24:18 This is not
00:24:18 --> 00:24:19 simply asking
00:24:19 --> 00:24:19 God to
00:24:19 --> 00:24:20 change the
00:24:20 --> 00:24:21 situation.
00:24:22 --> 00:24:23 It is,
00:24:23 --> 00:24:24 in fact,
00:24:24 --> 00:24:25 an appeal
00:24:25 --> 00:24:26 for
00:24:26 --> 00:24:27 forgiveness
00:24:27 --> 00:24:29 and a
00:24:29 --> 00:24:30 restored
00:24:30 --> 00:24:30 relationship.
00:24:34 --> 00:24:34 This is
00:24:34 --> 00:24:35 crucial.
00:24:36 --> 00:24:39 my fear
00:24:39 --> 00:24:39 is that
00:24:39 --> 00:24:40 for so
00:24:40 --> 00:24:41 many of
00:24:41 --> 00:24:41 us,
00:24:41 --> 00:24:43 we repent
00:24:43 --> 00:24:43 because we
00:24:43 --> 00:24:44 want to
00:24:44 --> 00:24:45 get a
00:24:45 --> 00:24:45 weight off
00:24:45 --> 00:24:45 our
00:24:45 --> 00:24:46 shoulders.
00:24:47 --> 00:24:48 We want
00:24:48 --> 00:24:48 to feel
00:24:48 --> 00:24:49 better about
00:24:49 --> 00:24:49 ourselves.
00:24:52 --> 00:24:52 And so
00:24:52 --> 00:24:53 when we
00:24:53 --> 00:24:54 do that,
00:24:55 --> 00:24:56 we constantly
00:24:56 --> 00:24:57 live with
00:24:57 --> 00:24:58 an underlying
00:24:58 --> 00:24:59 feeling of
00:24:59 --> 00:25:00 shame and
00:25:00 --> 00:25:00 am I truly
00:25:00 --> 00:25:01 forgiven?
00:25:01 --> 00:25:03 we don't
00:25:03 --> 00:25:04 sense the
00:25:04 --> 00:25:05 freedom of
00:25:05 --> 00:25:06 forgiveness.
00:25:08 --> 00:25:09 What's the
00:25:09 --> 00:25:10 purpose?
00:25:10 --> 00:25:10 In other
00:25:10 --> 00:25:10 words,
00:25:10 --> 00:25:11 when we do
00:25:11 --> 00:25:11 that,
00:25:11 --> 00:25:11 it's
00:25:11 --> 00:25:12 self-orientated.
00:25:12 --> 00:25:12 Our
00:25:12 --> 00:25:13 repentance
00:25:13 --> 00:25:14 is self-orientated.
00:25:17 --> 00:25:18 Repentance
00:25:18 --> 00:25:19 and forgiveness
00:25:19 --> 00:25:21 matters because
00:25:21 --> 00:25:23 of the
00:25:23 --> 00:25:23 next step.
00:25:23 --> 00:25:25 it's
00:25:25 --> 00:25:26 because it
00:25:26 --> 00:25:26 restores
00:25:26 --> 00:25:29 relationship.
00:25:30 --> 00:25:31 That's why
00:25:31 --> 00:25:31 repentance
00:25:31 --> 00:25:32 matters.
00:25:33 --> 00:25:34 If I
00:25:34 --> 00:25:35 wronged my
00:25:35 --> 00:25:35 wife,
00:25:36 --> 00:25:36 Nat,
00:25:37 --> 00:25:38 it causes,
00:25:38 --> 00:25:39 sorry,
00:25:39 --> 00:25:39 when I
00:25:39 --> 00:25:40 wronged my
00:25:40 --> 00:25:40 wife,
00:25:40 --> 00:25:40 Nat,
00:25:41 --> 00:25:43 it causes
00:25:43 --> 00:25:44 a strain,
00:25:45 --> 00:25:46 it causes
00:25:46 --> 00:25:48 a separation,
00:25:48 --> 00:25:49 a break
00:25:49 --> 00:25:50 in the
00:25:50 --> 00:25:51 relationship.
00:25:51 --> 00:25:51 There's
00:25:51 --> 00:25:51 this
00:25:51 --> 00:25:52 barrier,
00:25:52 --> 00:25:53 there's
00:25:53 --> 00:25:53 this
00:25:53 --> 00:25:54 problem
00:25:54 --> 00:25:56 and
00:25:56 --> 00:25:56 depending
00:25:56 --> 00:25:57 on how
00:25:57 --> 00:25:57 much I
00:25:57 --> 00:25:58 wronged
00:25:58 --> 00:25:58 her will
00:25:58 --> 00:25:59 depend on
00:25:59 --> 00:25:59 how great
00:25:59 --> 00:26:00 that barrier
00:26:00 --> 00:26:01 is,
00:26:01 --> 00:26:02 that roadblock
00:26:02 --> 00:26:02 in our
00:26:02 --> 00:26:03 relationship
00:26:03 --> 00:26:04 will be.
00:26:06 --> 00:26:07 Repentance
00:26:07 --> 00:26:08 and forgiveness
00:26:08 --> 00:26:08 matters,
00:26:09 --> 00:26:10 not so that I
00:26:10 --> 00:26:11 feel better
00:26:11 --> 00:26:12 about myself,
00:26:12 --> 00:26:13 it's because I
00:26:13 --> 00:26:13 get Nat
00:26:13 --> 00:26:14 back.
00:26:15 --> 00:26:16 That's why
00:26:16 --> 00:26:16 it matters.
00:26:18 --> 00:26:18 I want
00:26:18 --> 00:26:19 restored
00:26:19 --> 00:26:20 relationship.
00:26:23 --> 00:26:24 And as
00:26:24 --> 00:26:24 they sit
00:26:24 --> 00:26:25 on the
00:26:25 --> 00:26:25 rubble of
00:26:25 --> 00:26:26 Jerusalem,
00:26:26 --> 00:26:26 their suffering
00:26:26 --> 00:26:27 has led
00:26:27 --> 00:26:27 them to
00:26:27 --> 00:26:28 want God
00:26:28 --> 00:26:29 back.
00:26:31 --> 00:26:31 Even if
00:26:31 --> 00:26:32 the rubble
00:26:32 --> 00:26:32 remains,
00:26:32 --> 00:26:33 we want
00:26:33 --> 00:26:33 God back.
00:26:36 --> 00:26:37 This is
00:26:37 --> 00:26:38 more than
00:26:38 --> 00:26:38 just a
00:26:38 --> 00:26:38 prayer of
00:26:38 --> 00:26:39 lament,
00:26:39 --> 00:26:39 it is a
00:26:39 --> 00:26:40 prayer of
00:26:40 --> 00:26:40 repentance,
00:26:41 --> 00:26:41 it's a
00:26:41 --> 00:26:41 prayer for
00:26:41 --> 00:26:42 renewal,
00:26:44 --> 00:26:44 renewed
00:26:44 --> 00:26:45 relationship.
00:26:47 --> 00:26:47 It's
00:26:47 --> 00:26:48 prayer for
00:26:48 --> 00:26:49 restoration,
00:26:50 --> 00:26:50 renewal at
00:26:50 --> 00:26:50 the end
00:26:50 --> 00:26:50 of
00:26:50 --> 00:26:51 lamentations
00:26:51 --> 00:26:51 points us
00:26:51 --> 00:26:52 to something
00:26:52 --> 00:26:52 that only
00:26:52 --> 00:26:53 God can
00:26:53 --> 00:26:53 do.
00:26:56 --> 00:26:56 And yet
00:26:56 --> 00:26:56 for
00:26:56 --> 00:26:57 lamentations,
00:26:57 --> 00:26:58 this is
00:26:58 --> 00:26:58 where it
00:26:58 --> 00:26:59 ends.
00:27:00 --> 00:27:01 This
00:27:01 --> 00:27:01 historic
00:27:01 --> 00:27:02 lament
00:27:02 --> 00:27:03 concludes
00:27:03 --> 00:27:04 without
00:27:04 --> 00:27:05 resolution.
00:27:05 --> 00:27:05 resolution.
00:27:10 --> 00:27:10 As
00:27:10 --> 00:27:11 some of
00:27:11 --> 00:27:11 us feel
00:27:11 --> 00:27:12 like life
00:27:12 --> 00:27:12 is a
00:27:12 --> 00:27:13 bit like
00:27:13 --> 00:27:13 that at
00:27:13 --> 00:27:13 the
00:27:13 --> 00:27:13 moment,
00:27:13 --> 00:27:14 particularly
00:27:14 --> 00:27:14 in the
00:27:14 --> 00:27:14 moment of
00:27:14 --> 00:27:15 suffering when
00:27:15 --> 00:27:15 the storms
00:27:15 --> 00:27:16 hit,
00:27:17 --> 00:27:19 it feels
00:27:19 --> 00:27:19 like it
00:27:19 --> 00:27:19 just
00:27:19 --> 00:27:20 lingers.
00:27:22 --> 00:27:23 It
00:27:23 --> 00:27:24 ends by
00:27:24 --> 00:27:25 telling us
00:27:25 --> 00:27:25 where to
00:27:25 --> 00:27:26 look in
00:27:26 --> 00:27:26 pain,
00:27:27 --> 00:27:28 but not
00:27:28 --> 00:27:28 giving us the
00:27:28 --> 00:27:29 rest of the
00:27:29 --> 00:27:29 story.
00:27:29 --> 00:27:32 And it
00:27:32 --> 00:27:32 will be
00:27:32 --> 00:27:33 over 400
00:27:33 --> 00:27:34 years before
00:27:34 --> 00:27:35 the resolution
00:27:35 --> 00:27:35 comes.
00:27:35 --> 00:27:36 Just think
00:27:36 --> 00:27:36 about that
00:27:36 --> 00:27:37 for Judah
00:27:37 --> 00:27:37 for this
00:27:37 --> 00:27:37 moment.
00:27:40 --> 00:27:40 There was a
00:27:40 --> 00:27:41 gap of 400
00:27:41 --> 00:27:42 years before
00:27:42 --> 00:27:43 God spoke
00:27:43 --> 00:27:44 again.
00:27:44 --> 00:27:44 We want you
00:27:44 --> 00:27:45 back.
00:27:46 --> 00:27:46 And it
00:27:46 --> 00:27:47 was 400
00:27:47 --> 00:27:48 years before
00:27:48 --> 00:27:49 he spoke
00:27:49 --> 00:27:49 again.
00:27:51 --> 00:27:52 We don't
00:27:52 --> 00:27:52 have that
00:27:52 --> 00:27:53 long now.
00:27:53 --> 00:28:00 At the
00:28:00 --> 00:28:01 beginning of
00:28:01 --> 00:28:01 Matthew's
00:28:01 --> 00:28:01 account of
00:28:01 --> 00:28:02 Jesus'
00:28:02 --> 00:28:02 life,
00:28:02 --> 00:28:03 Joseph is
00:28:03 --> 00:28:04 told that
00:28:04 --> 00:28:05 Mary will
00:28:05 --> 00:28:05 give birth
00:28:05 --> 00:28:05 to a
00:28:05 --> 00:28:06 son.
00:28:08 --> 00:28:08 You give
00:28:08 --> 00:28:08 him the
00:28:08 --> 00:28:09 name Jesus
00:28:09 --> 00:28:11 because he
00:28:11 --> 00:28:12 will save
00:28:12 --> 00:28:13 his people
00:28:13 --> 00:28:14 from their
00:28:14 --> 00:28:14 sins.
00:28:17 --> 00:28:18 First
00:28:18 --> 00:28:18 words.
00:28:22 --> 00:28:23 Jesus is
00:28:23 --> 00:28:23 the one
00:28:23 --> 00:28:24 who restores
00:28:24 --> 00:28:24 us to
00:28:24 --> 00:28:24 God by
00:28:24 --> 00:28:25 taking
00:28:25 --> 00:28:25 God's
00:28:25 --> 00:28:25 punishment
00:28:25 --> 00:28:26 for us.
00:28:27 --> 00:28:27 Just
00:28:27 --> 00:28:28 before his
00:28:28 --> 00:28:29 execution and
00:28:29 --> 00:28:30 his arrest
00:28:30 --> 00:28:31 and his
00:28:31 --> 00:28:31 execution,
00:28:31 --> 00:28:32 Jesus is
00:28:32 --> 00:28:32 in the
00:28:32 --> 00:28:32 garden of
00:28:32 --> 00:28:33 Gethsemane
00:28:33 --> 00:28:35 and he
00:28:35 --> 00:28:35 says this,
00:28:37 --> 00:28:37 identifying
00:28:37 --> 00:28:38 with our
00:28:38 --> 00:28:38 sorrow,
00:28:40 --> 00:28:40 he says,
00:28:40 --> 00:28:41 my soul
00:28:41 --> 00:28:42 is overwhelmed
00:28:42 --> 00:28:43 with sorrow
00:28:43 --> 00:28:44 to the point
00:28:44 --> 00:28:45 of death.
00:28:47 --> 00:28:48 Mark 14
00:28:48 --> 00:28:49 tells us
00:28:49 --> 00:28:49 he was
00:28:49 --> 00:28:49 deeply
00:28:49 --> 00:28:50 distressed
00:28:50 --> 00:28:50 and he
00:28:50 --> 00:28:51 was troubled.
00:28:53 --> 00:28:54 We must
00:28:54 --> 00:28:54 not
00:28:54 --> 00:28:54 minimize
00:28:54 --> 00:28:55 what
00:28:55 --> 00:28:55 Jesus
00:28:55 --> 00:28:55 went
00:28:55 --> 00:28:56 through
00:28:56 --> 00:28:56 on
00:28:56 --> 00:28:56 our
00:28:56 --> 00:28:56 behalf.
00:28:58 --> 00:28:58 If you
00:28:58 --> 00:28:58 have a
00:28:58 --> 00:28:59 very high
00:28:59 --> 00:28:59 view of
00:28:59 --> 00:29:00 Jesus,
00:29:00 --> 00:29:01 we sort
00:29:01 --> 00:29:01 of tend
00:29:01 --> 00:29:02 to think,
00:29:02 --> 00:29:02 well,
00:29:02 --> 00:29:02 he could
00:29:02 --> 00:29:02 cope,
00:29:03 --> 00:29:03 he's God
00:29:03 --> 00:29:04 after all,
00:29:05 --> 00:29:05 he's divine,
00:29:06 --> 00:29:06 he can kind
00:29:06 --> 00:29:06 of cope with it,
00:29:07 --> 00:29:07 he knows what's
00:29:07 --> 00:29:08 going to happen,
00:29:08 --> 00:29:08 he knows the
00:29:08 --> 00:29:08 plan,
00:29:09 --> 00:29:10 but the fact
00:29:10 --> 00:29:10 is it says
00:29:10 --> 00:29:11 here Jesus
00:29:11 --> 00:29:12 is deeply
00:29:12 --> 00:29:12 distressed,
00:29:12 --> 00:29:13 which for him
00:29:13 --> 00:29:14 felt exactly
00:29:14 --> 00:29:14 what it feels
00:29:14 --> 00:29:15 like for you
00:29:15 --> 00:29:15 and for me,
00:29:15 --> 00:29:16 he is
00:29:16 --> 00:29:17 deeply
00:29:17 --> 00:29:18 distressed.
00:29:18 --> 00:29:20 in fact,
00:29:20 --> 00:29:20 more so,
00:29:20 --> 00:29:21 the anguish
00:29:21 --> 00:29:21 that he
00:29:21 --> 00:29:22 bore was
00:29:22 --> 00:29:22 greater than
00:29:22 --> 00:29:23 any anguish
00:29:23 --> 00:29:23 we would
00:29:23 --> 00:29:24 ever face,
00:29:24 --> 00:29:24 any sorrow
00:29:24 --> 00:29:25 that we
00:29:25 --> 00:29:26 would ever
00:29:26 --> 00:29:26 encounter.
00:29:27 --> 00:29:27 He saw
00:29:27 --> 00:29:28 the full
00:29:28 --> 00:29:29 terror of
00:29:29 --> 00:29:29 what lay
00:29:29 --> 00:29:30 ahead,
00:29:30 --> 00:29:31 his prostate
00:29:31 --> 00:29:32 body convulsing
00:29:32 --> 00:29:33 in the Garden
00:29:33 --> 00:29:33 of Gethsemane
00:29:33 --> 00:29:35 and his tears
00:29:35 --> 00:29:36 and the sweat
00:29:36 --> 00:29:37 falling to the
00:29:37 --> 00:29:37 ground like
00:29:37 --> 00:29:38 blood.
00:29:39 --> 00:29:39 The terror
00:29:39 --> 00:29:40 he felt
00:29:40 --> 00:29:40 was not so
00:29:40 --> 00:29:41 much because
00:29:41 --> 00:29:42 of the pain
00:29:42 --> 00:29:42 of the cross
00:29:42 --> 00:29:43 that he was
00:29:43 --> 00:29:43 about to
00:29:43 --> 00:29:43 endure,
00:29:44 --> 00:29:45 but because
00:29:45 --> 00:29:47 of the
00:29:47 --> 00:29:48 human sin
00:29:48 --> 00:29:49 and all
00:29:49 --> 00:29:49 of its
00:29:49 --> 00:29:50 consequences,
00:29:51 --> 00:29:51 the cup
00:29:51 --> 00:29:52 of God's
00:29:52 --> 00:29:52 judgment
00:29:52 --> 00:29:53 being poured
00:29:53 --> 00:29:54 out,
00:29:54 --> 00:29:55 the destroyed
00:29:55 --> 00:29:55 Jerusalem
00:29:55 --> 00:29:56 is about
00:29:56 --> 00:29:57 to destroy
00:29:57 --> 00:29:58 him and
00:29:58 --> 00:29:59 wreck the
00:29:59 --> 00:30:00 Godhead
00:30:00 --> 00:30:01 apart
00:30:01 --> 00:30:03 in such a
00:30:03 --> 00:30:04 way that
00:30:04 --> 00:30:05 the Father
00:30:05 --> 00:30:05 turns his
00:30:05 --> 00:30:06 face away.
00:30:08 --> 00:30:08 He saw
00:30:08 --> 00:30:09 the brutality
00:30:09 --> 00:30:10 of a thousand
00:30:10 --> 00:30:11 holocausts,
00:30:11 --> 00:30:12 all the
00:30:12 --> 00:30:13 prostituting
00:30:13 --> 00:30:13 and idolatry
00:30:13 --> 00:30:14 of human
00:30:14 --> 00:30:15 civilizations,
00:30:15 --> 00:30:16 the blasphemy,
00:30:16 --> 00:30:17 the profanity,
00:30:17 --> 00:30:18 and it was
00:30:18 --> 00:30:19 the cup
00:30:19 --> 00:30:19 that was
00:30:19 --> 00:30:20 full to
00:30:20 --> 00:30:20 the brim
00:30:20 --> 00:30:21 of jealousy
00:30:21 --> 00:30:22 and hatred
00:30:22 --> 00:30:23 and bitterness
00:30:23 --> 00:30:23 and gossip
00:30:23 --> 00:30:24 and greed
00:30:24 --> 00:30:25 and anger,
00:30:25 --> 00:30:26 and it was
00:30:26 --> 00:30:27 his job
00:30:27 --> 00:30:28 to drink
00:30:28 --> 00:30:28 all of
00:30:28 --> 00:30:29 God's
00:30:29 --> 00:30:29 judgment.
00:30:31 --> 00:30:32 He doesn't
00:30:32 --> 00:30:32 want to do
00:30:32 --> 00:30:32 it.
00:30:34 --> 00:30:36 The storm
00:30:36 --> 00:30:37 had hit,
00:30:37 --> 00:30:38 but oh man,
00:30:38 --> 00:30:39 the shelter
00:30:39 --> 00:30:39 was up.
00:30:40 --> 00:30:41 He falls
00:30:41 --> 00:30:41 to the ground
00:30:41 --> 00:30:42 and he
00:30:42 --> 00:30:43 pleads,
00:30:43 --> 00:30:44 if possible,
00:30:44 --> 00:30:45 that this
00:30:45 --> 00:30:45 hour might
00:30:45 --> 00:30:46 pass,
00:30:46 --> 00:30:47 but
00:30:47 --> 00:30:49 not my
00:30:49 --> 00:30:49 will,
00:30:49 --> 00:30:50 but your
00:30:50 --> 00:30:50 will be
00:30:50 --> 00:30:50 done.
00:30:51 --> 00:30:52 Your plan
00:30:52 --> 00:30:53 goes forward,
00:30:53 --> 00:30:53 not mine.
00:30:58 --> 00:30:59 He soaks up
00:30:59 --> 00:31:00 the punishment
00:31:00 --> 00:31:00 of the world.
00:31:04 --> 00:31:05 The greatest
00:31:05 --> 00:31:05 display of
00:31:05 --> 00:31:06 obedience to
00:31:06 --> 00:31:06 the plan
00:31:06 --> 00:31:07 of God,
00:31:07 --> 00:31:07 Jesus took
00:31:07 --> 00:31:08 the cup,
00:31:08 --> 00:31:09 the full
00:31:09 --> 00:31:09 cup of
00:31:09 --> 00:31:10 human sin
00:31:10 --> 00:31:11 and God's
00:31:11 --> 00:31:11 judgment.
00:31:11 --> 00:31:12 he looked
00:31:12 --> 00:31:12 at it
00:31:12 --> 00:31:14 shuddering
00:31:14 --> 00:31:15 deep into
00:31:15 --> 00:31:16 its depth
00:31:16 --> 00:31:17 and in a
00:31:17 --> 00:31:18 stilly act
00:31:18 --> 00:31:19 of trust
00:31:19 --> 00:31:20 and dependence
00:31:20 --> 00:31:21 upon his
00:31:21 --> 00:31:22 good father.
00:31:23 --> 00:31:24 He drank
00:31:24 --> 00:31:25 it all
00:31:25 --> 00:31:27 for you
00:31:27 --> 00:31:27 and for me
00:31:27 --> 00:31:28 so that we
00:31:28 --> 00:31:29 do not
00:31:29 --> 00:31:29 end up
00:31:29 --> 00:31:31 where Jeremiah
00:31:31 --> 00:31:32 is at the
00:31:32 --> 00:31:33 end of
00:31:33 --> 00:31:34 Lamentations
00:31:34 --> 00:31:34 5.
00:31:34 --> 00:31:38 1 Peter 3
00:31:38 --> 00:31:39 tells us
00:31:39 --> 00:31:40 Christ
00:31:40 --> 00:31:41 suffered
00:31:41 --> 00:31:43 once for
00:31:43 --> 00:31:44 all sin
00:31:44 --> 00:31:45 for the
00:31:45 --> 00:31:46 righteous,
00:31:46 --> 00:31:46 the righteous
00:31:46 --> 00:31:47 one for the
00:31:47 --> 00:31:48 unrighteous
00:31:48 --> 00:31:49 one to
00:31:49 --> 00:31:51 bring you
00:31:51 --> 00:31:53 back to
00:31:53 --> 00:31:54 God.
00:31:55 --> 00:31:56 You get
00:31:56 --> 00:31:56 God back.
00:31:56 --> 00:32:00 And so
00:32:00 --> 00:32:01 Jesus,
00:32:02 --> 00:32:02 the cross,
00:32:03 --> 00:32:03 is the
00:32:03 --> 00:32:04 resolution to
00:32:04 --> 00:32:05 the plea in
00:32:05 --> 00:32:06 Lamentations
00:32:06 --> 00:32:07 5.21 and
00:32:07 --> 00:32:07 22.
00:32:07 --> 00:32:08 He's the
00:32:08 --> 00:32:09 one who
00:32:09 --> 00:32:09 brings us
00:32:09 --> 00:32:09 back to
00:32:09 --> 00:32:10 God.
00:32:11 --> 00:32:12 None of
00:32:12 --> 00:32:13 our suffering
00:32:13 --> 00:32:14 makes any
00:32:14 --> 00:32:14 sense.
00:32:16 --> 00:32:16 In fact,
00:32:16 --> 00:32:17 no suffering
00:32:17 --> 00:32:17 in this
00:32:17 --> 00:32:18 world,
00:32:18 --> 00:32:18 whatever your
00:32:18 --> 00:32:20 religion and
00:32:20 --> 00:32:20 philosophical
00:32:20 --> 00:32:21 system is,
00:32:21 --> 00:32:22 makes no
00:32:22 --> 00:32:22 sense
00:32:22 --> 00:32:26 until we
00:32:26 --> 00:32:26 see Jesus
00:32:26 --> 00:32:27 suffering for
00:32:27 --> 00:32:28 us.
00:32:29 --> 00:32:29 God
00:32:29 --> 00:32:30 himself
00:32:30 --> 00:32:31 suffering for
00:32:31 --> 00:32:31 us.
00:32:33 --> 00:32:33 There isn't a
00:32:33 --> 00:32:34 religion or
00:32:34 --> 00:32:34 philosophical
00:32:34 --> 00:32:35 system in
00:32:35 --> 00:32:36 this world
00:32:36 --> 00:32:37 that has any
00:32:37 --> 00:32:38 answer to
00:32:38 --> 00:32:39 human suffering
00:32:39 --> 00:32:39 like the
00:32:39 --> 00:32:40 Christian faith.
00:32:44 --> 00:32:44 And so
00:32:44 --> 00:32:45 we lament.
00:32:48 --> 00:32:49 Because all
00:32:49 --> 00:32:50 the promises
00:32:50 --> 00:32:50 of God
00:32:50 --> 00:32:52 are not
00:32:52 --> 00:32:53 yet
00:32:53 --> 00:32:53 fulfilled.
00:32:55 --> 00:32:55 They have
00:32:55 --> 00:32:56 their yes
00:32:56 --> 00:32:56 and their
00:32:56 --> 00:32:56 amen in
00:32:56 --> 00:32:57 Jesus.
00:32:59 --> 00:32:59 So let
00:32:59 --> 00:33:00 me just
00:33:00 --> 00:33:03 take a
00:33:03 --> 00:33:03 slight
00:33:03 --> 00:33:04 diversion
00:33:04 --> 00:33:04 here.
00:33:06 --> 00:33:07 Particularly
00:33:07 --> 00:33:08 for those
00:33:08 --> 00:33:08 of us in
00:33:08 --> 00:33:09 this room
00:33:09 --> 00:33:11 and watching
00:33:11 --> 00:33:12 on screen
00:33:12 --> 00:33:13 who have
00:33:13 --> 00:33:14 walked with
00:33:14 --> 00:33:15 Jesus for
00:33:15 --> 00:33:16 a while.
00:33:20 --> 00:33:21 The
00:33:21 --> 00:33:22 opposite of
00:33:22 --> 00:33:22 walking
00:33:22 --> 00:33:23 with Jesus
00:33:23 --> 00:33:25 in lament
00:33:25 --> 00:33:25 while we
00:33:25 --> 00:33:26 wait for
00:33:26 --> 00:33:26 the
00:33:26 --> 00:33:27 completeness
00:33:27 --> 00:33:28 of his
00:33:28 --> 00:33:29 promises
00:33:29 --> 00:33:32 is a
00:33:32 --> 00:33:33 cynical
00:33:33 --> 00:33:33 spirit.
00:33:34 --> 00:33:35 That's the
00:33:35 --> 00:33:35 opposite of
00:33:35 --> 00:33:35 lament.
00:33:38 --> 00:33:38 And
00:33:38 --> 00:33:40 I see
00:33:40 --> 00:33:40 too much
00:33:40 --> 00:33:41 of it
00:33:41 --> 00:33:41 in my
00:33:41 --> 00:33:41 own
00:33:41 --> 00:33:42 heart
00:33:42 --> 00:33:44 and I
00:33:44 --> 00:33:44 see too
00:33:44 --> 00:33:45 much of
00:33:45 --> 00:33:45 it,
00:33:46 --> 00:33:46 I believe,
00:33:47 --> 00:33:47 amongst
00:33:47 --> 00:33:48 Christians.
00:33:48 --> 00:33:50 cynicism
00:33:50 --> 00:33:50 is
00:33:50 --> 00:33:51 increasingly
00:33:51 --> 00:33:51 the
00:33:51 --> 00:33:52 dominant
00:33:52 --> 00:33:52 spirit
00:33:52 --> 00:33:53 of this
00:33:53 --> 00:33:53 age
00:33:53 --> 00:33:53 and
00:33:53 --> 00:33:53 too
00:33:53 --> 00:33:54 many
00:33:54 --> 00:33:54 Christians
00:33:54 --> 00:33:54 are
00:33:54 --> 00:33:56 marinating
00:33:56 --> 00:33:56 in that
00:33:56 --> 00:33:58 age.
00:33:59 --> 00:33:59 Many
00:33:59 --> 00:34:00 Christians
00:34:00 --> 00:34:01 stand on
00:34:01 --> 00:34:01 the edge
00:34:01 --> 00:34:01 of
00:34:01 --> 00:34:02 cynicism
00:34:02 --> 00:34:03 struggling
00:34:03 --> 00:34:04 with a
00:34:04 --> 00:34:05 defeated
00:34:05 --> 00:34:06 weariness
00:34:06 --> 00:34:08 but
00:34:08 --> 00:34:09 hiding
00:34:09 --> 00:34:09 it
00:34:09 --> 00:34:10 behind
00:34:10 --> 00:34:11 a
00:34:11 --> 00:34:11 theology
00:34:11 --> 00:34:11 of
00:34:11 --> 00:34:12 God's
00:34:12 --> 00:34:12 sovereignty.
00:34:19 --> 00:34:20 As a
00:34:20 --> 00:34:21 pastor,
00:34:21 --> 00:34:22 in moments
00:34:22 --> 00:34:22 of grief,
00:34:23 --> 00:34:23 I often
00:34:23 --> 00:34:24 say to
00:34:24 --> 00:34:24 people,
00:34:25 --> 00:34:26 how are
00:34:26 --> 00:34:26 you doing?
00:34:27 --> 00:34:28 Trusting
00:34:28 --> 00:34:28 in God's
00:34:28 --> 00:34:28 plan.
00:34:29 --> 00:34:30 Trusting
00:34:30 --> 00:34:30 in God's
00:34:30 --> 00:34:30 plan.
00:34:33 --> 00:34:33 He's
00:34:33 --> 00:34:34 sovereign,
00:34:34 --> 00:34:34 he's in
00:34:34 --> 00:34:34 control,
00:34:34 --> 00:34:35 he'll work
00:34:35 --> 00:34:35 it out.
00:34:38 --> 00:34:38 But how
00:34:38 --> 00:34:39 do you
00:34:39 --> 00:34:39 feel about
00:34:39 --> 00:34:40 that?
00:34:43 --> 00:34:44 And
00:34:44 --> 00:34:44 there's
00:34:44 --> 00:34:44 no
00:34:44 --> 00:34:45 response.
00:34:47 --> 00:34:47 That's
00:34:47 --> 00:34:48 cynicism.
00:34:49 --> 00:34:50 That's
00:34:50 --> 00:34:50 weariness,
00:34:51 --> 00:34:51 not
00:34:51 --> 00:34:52 lament.
00:34:53 --> 00:34:53 That's
00:34:53 --> 00:34:53 not
00:34:53 --> 00:34:53 trust.
00:34:58 --> 00:34:58 That is,
00:34:59 --> 00:34:59 their
00:34:59 --> 00:35:00 spirits
00:35:00 --> 00:35:00 have
00:35:00 --> 00:35:01 begun
00:35:01 --> 00:35:01 to
00:35:01 --> 00:35:02 deaden
00:35:02 --> 00:35:04 but
00:35:04 --> 00:35:05 unlike
00:35:05 --> 00:35:09 their
00:35:09 --> 00:35:09 cynic,
00:35:09 --> 00:35:09 they
00:35:09 --> 00:35:10 haven't
00:35:10 --> 00:35:10 lost
00:35:10 --> 00:35:10 all of
00:35:10 --> 00:35:11 hope.
00:35:11 --> 00:35:11 There's
00:35:11 --> 00:35:11 still a
00:35:11 --> 00:35:11 hope
00:35:11 --> 00:35:12 there.
00:35:13 --> 00:35:14 But the
00:35:14 --> 00:35:15 fear of
00:35:15 --> 00:35:15 further
00:35:15 --> 00:35:16 sorrows
00:35:16 --> 00:35:17 tends to
00:35:17 --> 00:35:18 freeze
00:35:18 --> 00:35:18 them.
00:35:21 --> 00:35:22 Cynicism
00:35:22 --> 00:35:22 and defeated
00:35:22 --> 00:35:23 weariness both
00:35:23 --> 00:35:24 question the
00:35:24 --> 00:35:24 active
00:35:24 --> 00:35:25 goodness of
00:35:25 --> 00:35:26 God,
00:35:26 --> 00:35:26 which is
00:35:26 --> 00:35:27 why we
00:35:27 --> 00:35:27 can't stop
00:35:27 --> 00:35:27 at being
00:35:27 --> 00:35:28 number
00:35:28 --> 00:35:28 two.
00:35:30 --> 00:35:30 Being
00:35:30 --> 00:35:31 number
00:35:31 --> 00:35:32 three is
00:35:32 --> 00:35:32 the
00:35:32 --> 00:35:33 difference
00:35:33 --> 00:35:34 between
00:35:34 --> 00:35:34 lament
00:35:34 --> 00:35:35 and
00:35:35 --> 00:35:35 cynicism.
00:35:39 --> 00:35:40 Cynicism
00:35:40 --> 00:35:41 creates a
00:35:41 --> 00:35:41 numbness
00:35:41 --> 00:35:42 towards
00:35:42 --> 00:35:43 God
00:35:43 --> 00:35:43 and
00:35:43 --> 00:35:43 life,
00:35:44 --> 00:35:44 a
00:35:44 --> 00:35:45 deafening
00:35:45 --> 00:35:46 silence
00:35:46 --> 00:35:46 of
00:35:46 --> 00:35:47 prayerlessness
00:35:47 --> 00:35:47 about
00:35:47 --> 00:35:48 your
00:35:48 --> 00:35:48 heart
00:35:48 --> 00:35:48 and
00:35:48 --> 00:35:49 what's
00:35:49 --> 00:35:49 going
00:35:49 --> 00:35:49 on
00:35:49 --> 00:35:49 in
00:35:49 --> 00:35:49 this
00:35:49 --> 00:35:50 world.
00:35:51 --> 00:35:52 It
00:35:52 --> 00:35:52 may
00:35:52 --> 00:35:53 maintain
00:35:53 --> 00:35:53 a
00:35:53 --> 00:35:53 rigorous
00:35:53 --> 00:35:54 theology
00:35:54 --> 00:35:54 of
00:35:54 --> 00:35:55 God's
00:35:55 --> 00:35:55 sovereignty
00:35:55 --> 00:35:55 while
00:35:55 --> 00:35:56 not
00:35:56 --> 00:35:56 actually
00:35:56 --> 00:35:57 relating
00:35:57 --> 00:35:57 to
00:35:57 --> 00:35:57 him.
00:35:57 --> 00:36:03 prayers
00:36:03 --> 00:36:03 of
00:36:03 --> 00:36:03 lament
00:36:03 --> 00:36:05 engage
00:36:05 --> 00:36:05 with
00:36:05 --> 00:36:06 evil.
00:36:08 --> 00:36:09 They
00:36:09 --> 00:36:09 don't
00:36:09 --> 00:36:10 take no
00:36:10 --> 00:36:10 for an
00:36:10 --> 00:36:10 answer.
00:36:12 --> 00:36:13 Jeremiah
00:36:13 --> 00:36:13 is in
00:36:13 --> 00:36:14 God's
00:36:14 --> 00:36:14 faith
00:36:14 --> 00:36:15 as he
00:36:15 --> 00:36:15 lays
00:36:15 --> 00:36:16 bare
00:36:16 --> 00:36:16 his
00:36:16 --> 00:36:16 heart
00:36:16 --> 00:36:18 hoping
00:36:18 --> 00:36:19 dreaming
00:36:19 --> 00:36:20 asking.
00:36:25 --> 00:36:26 Lament
00:36:26 --> 00:36:29 is not
00:36:29 --> 00:36:29 wallowing.
00:36:30 --> 00:36:30 Lament
00:36:30 --> 00:36:31 is
00:36:31 --> 00:36:32 feisty.
00:36:34 --> 00:36:35 Cynicism
00:36:35 --> 00:36:35 just
00:36:35 --> 00:36:36 critiques
00:36:36 --> 00:36:36 and
00:36:36 --> 00:36:37 languishes
00:36:37 --> 00:36:37 and
00:36:37 --> 00:36:38 wallows.
00:36:38 --> 00:36:38 That's
00:36:38 --> 00:36:39 cynicism.
00:36:40 --> 00:36:41 Cynicism
00:36:41 --> 00:36:41 is
00:36:41 --> 00:36:42 passive.
00:36:43 --> 00:36:44 It is
00:36:44 --> 00:36:44 without
00:36:44 --> 00:36:45 hope in
00:36:45 --> 00:36:45 this
00:36:45 --> 00:36:45 life.
00:36:46 --> 00:36:46 Only
00:36:46 --> 00:36:47 hope for
00:36:47 --> 00:36:47 life
00:36:47 --> 00:36:47 forever.
00:36:52 --> 00:36:53 That
00:36:53 --> 00:36:53 is
00:36:53 --> 00:36:53 the
00:36:53 --> 00:36:54 sorrow
00:36:54 --> 00:36:54 of
00:36:54 --> 00:36:55 life
00:36:55 --> 00:36:57 leads
00:36:57 --> 00:36:57 us
00:36:57 --> 00:36:58 to
00:36:58 --> 00:36:58 the
00:36:58 --> 00:36:58 man
00:36:58 --> 00:36:58 of
00:36:58 --> 00:36:59 sorrows.
00:37:00 --> 00:37:00 The
00:37:00 --> 00:37:00 man
00:37:00 --> 00:37:01 of
00:37:01 --> 00:37:01 sorrows.
00:37:02 --> 00:37:02 The
00:37:02 --> 00:37:02 God
00:37:02 --> 00:37:02 who
00:37:02 --> 00:37:03 knows
00:37:03 --> 00:37:03 your
00:37:03 --> 00:37:03 sorrow.
00:37:04 --> 00:37:05 Under
00:37:05 --> 00:37:05 the
00:37:05 --> 00:37:05 dark
00:37:05 --> 00:37:06 clouds
00:37:06 --> 00:37:06 of
00:37:06 --> 00:37:07 brokenness
00:37:07 --> 00:37:07 God
00:37:07 --> 00:37:08 offers
00:37:08 --> 00:37:08 mercy.
00:37:11 --> 00:37:12 I
00:37:12 --> 00:37:12 sat
00:37:12 --> 00:37:13 this
00:37:13 --> 00:37:13 week
00:37:13 --> 00:37:15 with a
00:37:15 --> 00:37:15 ministry
00:37:15 --> 00:37:16 peer
00:37:16 --> 00:37:16 going
00:37:16 --> 00:37:17 through
00:37:17 --> 00:37:17 a
00:37:17 --> 00:37:17 tough
00:37:17 --> 00:37:17 time.
00:37:21 --> 00:37:21 I
00:37:21 --> 00:37:21 said to
00:37:21 --> 00:37:21 him
00:37:21 --> 00:37:22 what
00:37:22 --> 00:37:22 have
00:37:22 --> 00:37:22 you
00:37:22 --> 00:37:22 learned
00:37:22 --> 00:37:23 in
00:37:23 --> 00:37:24 this
00:37:24 --> 00:37:24 moment.
00:37:24 --> 00:37:25 What's
00:37:25 --> 00:37:25 God
00:37:25 --> 00:37:25 teaching
00:37:25 --> 00:37:26 you?
00:37:27 --> 00:37:27 He
00:37:27 --> 00:37:28 started
00:37:28 --> 00:37:28 to
00:37:28 --> 00:37:28 tear
00:37:28 --> 00:37:28 up
00:37:28 --> 00:37:28 and
00:37:28 --> 00:37:29 he
00:37:29 --> 00:37:29 said
00:37:29 --> 00:37:32 I
00:37:32 --> 00:37:32 just
00:37:32 --> 00:37:32 hear
00:37:32 --> 00:37:33 God
00:37:33 --> 00:37:33 saying
00:37:33 --> 00:37:33 to
00:37:33 --> 00:37:33 me
00:37:33 --> 00:37:33 all
00:37:33 --> 00:37:33 the
00:37:33 --> 00:37:33 time
00:37:33 --> 00:37:35 walk
00:37:35 --> 00:37:35 with
00:37:35 --> 00:37:35 me.
00:37:37 --> 00:37:38 Walk
00:37:38 --> 00:37:38 with
00:37:38 --> 00:37:38 me.
00:37:39 --> 00:37:40 Walk
00:37:40 --> 00:37:40 with
00:37:40 --> 00:37:40 me.
00:37:45 --> 00:37:45 God
00:37:45 --> 00:37:46 the
00:37:46 --> 00:37:47 man
00:37:47 --> 00:37:47 of
00:37:47 --> 00:37:47 sorrows
00:37:47 --> 00:37:48 offers
00:37:48 --> 00:37:48 the
00:37:48 --> 00:37:48 embrace.
00:37:50 --> 00:37:51 Lament
00:37:51 --> 00:37:51 is the
00:37:51 --> 00:37:52 language
00:37:52 --> 00:37:52 of
00:37:52 --> 00:37:52 a
00:37:52 --> 00:37:52 people
00:37:52 --> 00:37:53 who
00:37:53 --> 00:37:53 know
00:37:53 --> 00:37:54 the
00:37:54 --> 00:37:54 whole
00:37:54 --> 00:37:55 story.
00:37:58 --> 00:37:58 Not
00:37:58 --> 00:37:58 just
00:37:58 --> 00:37:58 part
00:37:58 --> 00:37:59 of
00:37:59 --> 00:37:59 it.
00:38:00 --> 00:38:00 The
00:38:00 --> 00:38:01 gospel
00:38:01 --> 00:38:01 story.
00:38:02 --> 00:38:02 The
00:38:02 --> 00:38:02 Christian's
00:38:02 --> 00:38:03 view of
00:38:03 --> 00:38:03 pain
00:38:03 --> 00:38:03 and
00:38:03 --> 00:38:03 suffering
00:38:03 --> 00:38:04 in
00:38:04 --> 00:38:04 this
00:38:04 --> 00:38:04 present
00:38:04 --> 00:38:04 life
00:38:04 --> 00:38:05 is
00:38:05 --> 00:38:06 transformed
00:38:06 --> 00:38:06 because
00:38:06 --> 00:38:07 of the
00:38:07 --> 00:38:07 good
00:38:07 --> 00:38:08 news
00:38:08 --> 00:38:08 of the
00:38:08 --> 00:38:09 man
00:38:09 --> 00:38:09 of
00:38:09 --> 00:38:09 sorrows.
00:38:10 --> 00:38:11 For
00:38:11 --> 00:38:11 I
00:38:11 --> 00:38:11 consider
00:38:11 --> 00:38:12 that
00:38:12 --> 00:38:12 the
00:38:12 --> 00:38:13 sufferings
00:38:13 --> 00:38:13 of
00:38:13 --> 00:38:13 this
00:38:13 --> 00:38:13 present
00:38:13 --> 00:38:14 time
00:38:14 --> 00:38:14 are
00:38:14 --> 00:38:14 not
00:38:14 --> 00:38:15 worth
00:38:15 --> 00:38:15 comparing
00:38:15 --> 00:38:16 with
00:38:16 --> 00:38:16 the
00:38:16 --> 00:38:16 glory
00:38:16 --> 00:38:17 that
00:38:17 --> 00:38:17 is
00:38:17 --> 00:38:17 to
00:38:17 --> 00:38:17 be
00:38:17 --> 00:38:18 revealed
00:38:18 --> 00:38:18 to
00:38:18 --> 00:38:19 us.
00:38:19 --> 00:38:20 And
00:38:20 --> 00:38:21 so
00:38:21 --> 00:38:21 we
00:38:21 --> 00:38:22 along
00:38:22 --> 00:38:22 with
00:38:22 --> 00:38:22 all
00:38:22 --> 00:38:22 creation
00:38:22 --> 00:38:23 groan
00:38:23 --> 00:38:24 as
00:38:24 --> 00:38:24 we
00:38:24 --> 00:38:24 wait
00:38:24 --> 00:38:25 for
00:38:25 --> 00:38:25 the
00:38:25 --> 00:38:25 future
00:38:25 --> 00:38:25 day
00:38:25 --> 00:38:26 when
00:38:26 --> 00:38:26 Christ's
00:38:26 --> 00:38:27 victory
00:38:27 --> 00:38:27 will
00:38:27 --> 00:38:27 be
00:38:27 --> 00:38:28 complete.
00:38:29 --> 00:38:30 We
00:38:30 --> 00:38:30 lament.
00:38:31 --> 00:38:32 We
00:38:32 --> 00:38:32 embrace
00:38:32 --> 00:38:32 this
00:38:32 --> 00:38:33 language
00:38:33 --> 00:38:33 of
00:38:33 --> 00:38:34 sorrow
00:38:34 --> 00:38:35 as
00:38:35 --> 00:38:36 a
00:38:36 --> 00:38:36 road
00:38:36 --> 00:38:37 map
00:38:37 --> 00:38:37 to
00:38:37 --> 00:38:37 God's
00:38:37 --> 00:38:38 grace
00:38:38 --> 00:38:40 and
00:38:40 --> 00:38:40 getting
00:38:40 --> 00:38:40 God
00:38:40 --> 00:38:41 back.
00:38:43 --> 00:38:43 You
00:38:43 --> 00:38:44 can hear
00:38:44 --> 00:38:44 God
00:38:44 --> 00:38:44 call out
00:38:44 --> 00:38:45 to you
00:38:45 --> 00:38:45 at the
00:38:45 --> 00:38:46 moment
00:38:46 --> 00:38:46 if that's
00:38:46 --> 00:38:46 your
00:38:46 --> 00:38:46 position
00:38:46 --> 00:38:47 in life.
00:38:47 --> 00:38:48 walk
00:38:48 --> 00:38:49 with
00:38:49 --> 00:38:49 me.
00:38:50 --> 00:38:50 Walk
00:38:50 --> 00:38:50 with
00:38:50 --> 00:38:51 me.
00:38:53 --> 00:38:54 Let's
00:38:54 --> 00:38:54 pray.
00:38:58 --> 00:38:59 Gracious
00:38:59 --> 00:39:00 Father and
00:39:00 --> 00:39:00 Lord of
00:39:00 --> 00:39:00 all,
00:39:01 --> 00:39:02 sin has
00:39:02 --> 00:39:02 ravaged
00:39:02 --> 00:39:03 your
00:39:03 --> 00:39:04 good
00:39:04 --> 00:39:04 world.
00:39:05 --> 00:39:06 Living
00:39:06 --> 00:39:07 in a
00:39:07 --> 00:39:07 sin riddled
00:39:07 --> 00:39:08 world means
00:39:08 --> 00:39:08 we
00:39:08 --> 00:39:09 accumulate
00:39:09 --> 00:39:10 pain
00:39:10 --> 00:39:10 and
00:39:10 --> 00:39:11 sorrow
00:39:11 --> 00:39:12 and hurt.
00:39:14 --> 00:39:14 Much
00:39:14 --> 00:39:15 of that
00:39:15 --> 00:39:16 is stored
00:39:16 --> 00:39:16 deep in
00:39:16 --> 00:39:16 our
00:39:16 --> 00:39:16 hearts.
00:39:16 --> 00:39:17 We
00:39:17 --> 00:39:17 have
00:39:17 --> 00:39:17 been
00:39:17 --> 00:39:17 touched
00:39:17 --> 00:39:18 by
00:39:18 --> 00:39:18 sin
00:39:18 --> 00:39:18 and
00:39:18 --> 00:39:18 pain
00:39:18 --> 00:39:19 so
00:39:19 --> 00:39:19 many
00:39:19 --> 00:39:19 times
00:39:19 --> 00:39:21 and
00:39:21 --> 00:39:21 in
00:39:21 --> 00:39:21 so
00:39:21 --> 00:39:21 many
00:39:21 --> 00:39:22 ways
00:39:22 --> 00:39:22 it's
00:39:22 --> 00:39:22 hard
00:39:22 --> 00:39:22 to
00:39:22 --> 00:39:23 remember
00:39:23 --> 00:39:23 it
00:39:23 --> 00:39:23 all
00:39:23 --> 00:39:23 but
00:39:23 --> 00:39:23 some
00:39:23 --> 00:39:23 of
00:39:23 --> 00:39:24 those
00:39:24 --> 00:39:24 times
00:39:24 --> 00:39:24 they
00:39:24 --> 00:39:24 are
00:39:24 --> 00:39:25 just
00:39:25 --> 00:39:25 seared
00:39:25 --> 00:39:25 into
00:39:25 --> 00:39:26 our
00:39:26 --> 00:39:26 memories.
00:39:28 --> 00:39:28 We
00:39:28 --> 00:39:29 battle
00:39:29 --> 00:39:31 with
00:39:31 --> 00:39:31 cynicism.
00:39:33 --> 00:39:33 For
00:39:33 --> 00:39:34 some of
00:39:34 --> 00:39:34 us
00:39:34 --> 00:39:34 cynicism
00:39:34 --> 00:39:34 has
00:39:34 --> 00:39:35 crept
00:39:35 --> 00:39:35 in
00:39:35 --> 00:39:35 and
00:39:35 --> 00:39:35 made
00:39:35 --> 00:39:35 us
00:39:35 --> 00:39:36 passive
00:39:36 --> 00:39:36 with
00:39:36 --> 00:39:37 you.
00:39:39 --> 00:39:39 So
00:39:39 --> 00:39:39 we
00:39:39 --> 00:39:39 have
00:39:39 --> 00:39:40 this
00:39:40 --> 00:39:42 trust
00:39:42 --> 00:39:42 in
00:39:42 --> 00:39:42 a
00:39:42 --> 00:39:43 theological
00:39:43 --> 00:39:44 system
00:39:44 --> 00:39:46 rather
00:39:46 --> 00:39:46 than
00:39:46 --> 00:39:47 walking
00:39:47 --> 00:39:47 with
00:39:47 --> 00:39:47 you.
00:39:49 --> 00:39:49 It
00:39:49 --> 00:39:49 is
00:39:49 --> 00:39:50 passive
00:39:50 --> 00:39:50 with
00:39:50 --> 00:39:50 you.
00:39:52 --> 00:39:52 And
00:39:52 --> 00:39:52 so we
00:39:52 --> 00:39:53 ask for
00:39:53 --> 00:39:54 your help
00:39:54 --> 00:39:54 Holy
00:39:54 --> 00:39:54 Spirit
00:39:54 --> 00:39:56 to look
00:39:56 --> 00:39:57 again
00:39:57 --> 00:39:57 at those
00:39:57 --> 00:39:58 sufferings
00:39:58 --> 00:39:59 and discern
00:39:59 --> 00:40:00 your love
00:40:00 --> 00:40:01 for us
00:40:01 --> 00:40:03 in that
00:40:03 --> 00:40:04 very
00:40:04 --> 00:40:04 pain.
00:40:06 --> 00:40:06 Give
00:40:06 --> 00:40:07 us
00:40:07 --> 00:40:07 wisdom
00:40:07 --> 00:40:09 and
00:40:09 --> 00:40:09 discernment
00:40:09 --> 00:40:11 if not
00:40:11 --> 00:40:12 to fully
00:40:12 --> 00:40:12 understand
00:40:12 --> 00:40:13 your ways
00:40:13 --> 00:40:14 but to
00:40:14 --> 00:40:15 trust
00:40:15 --> 00:40:16 your plans
00:40:16 --> 00:40:17 your power
00:40:17 --> 00:40:17 your goodness
00:40:17 --> 00:40:19 the goodness
00:40:19 --> 00:40:19 that saw
00:40:19 --> 00:40:20 you intervene
00:40:20 --> 00:40:21 for us
00:40:21 --> 00:40:21 Jesus.
00:40:23 --> 00:40:23 Father
00:40:23 --> 00:40:24 teach us
00:40:24 --> 00:40:25 to trust
00:40:25 --> 00:40:25 and to
00:40:25 --> 00:40:26 live as
00:40:26 --> 00:40:26 people
00:40:26 --> 00:40:27 who know
00:40:27 --> 00:40:28 that our
00:40:28 --> 00:40:29 final hope
00:40:29 --> 00:40:30 cannot be
00:40:30 --> 00:40:31 in any
00:40:31 --> 00:40:31 earthly
00:40:31 --> 00:40:32 Jerusalem
00:40:32 --> 00:40:33 or in
00:40:33 --> 00:40:34 any
00:40:34 --> 00:40:34 earthly
00:40:34 --> 00:40:35 circumstances
00:40:35 --> 00:40:36 just getting
00:40:36 --> 00:40:36 better
00:40:36 --> 00:40:39 but only
00:40:39 --> 00:40:39 in you.
00:40:41 --> 00:40:42 So grow
00:40:42 --> 00:40:42 our faith
00:40:42 --> 00:40:44 in you
00:40:44 --> 00:40:44 in the face
00:40:44 --> 00:40:45 of adversity
00:40:45 --> 00:40:46 and pain.
00:40:46 --> 00:40:47 Thank you
00:40:47 --> 00:40:48 for the gift
00:40:48 --> 00:40:49 of lament.
00:40:50 --> 00:40:50 Amen.
00:40:53 --> 00:40:53 Horatio
00:40:53 --> 00:40:54 Spafford
00:40:54 --> 00:40:54 was a
00:40:54 --> 00:40:55 prominent
00:40:55 --> 00:40:55 American
00:40:55 --> 00:40:56 lawyer
00:40:56 --> 00:40:56 and
00:40:56 --> 00:40:57 Presbyterian
00:40:57 --> 00:40:58 church
00:40:58 --> 00:40:58 elder
00:40:58 --> 00:40:58 back in
00:40:58 --> 00:41:00 the 1800s.
00:41:00 --> 00:41:01 He knew
00:41:01 --> 00:41:01 suffering
00:41:01 --> 00:41:02 and loss
00:41:02 --> 00:41:02 in his
00:41:02 --> 00:41:03 life
00:41:03 --> 00:41:03 in all
00:41:03 --> 00:41:04 kinds
00:41:04 --> 00:41:04 of
00:41:04 --> 00:41:04 ways.
00:41:06 --> 00:41:06 Certainly
00:41:06 --> 00:41:07 not the
00:41:07 --> 00:41:07 least
00:41:07 --> 00:41:07 that
00:41:07 --> 00:41:08 scarlet
00:41:08 --> 00:41:08 fever
00:41:08 --> 00:41:08 killed
00:41:08 --> 00:41:09 his
00:41:09 --> 00:41:09 four
00:41:09 --> 00:41:09 year
00:41:09 --> 00:41:09 old
00:41:09 --> 00:41:10 son
00:41:10 --> 00:41:12 in the
00:41:12 --> 00:41:12 same
00:41:12 --> 00:41:13 year
00:41:13 --> 00:41:13 that
00:41:13 --> 00:41:13 his
00:41:13 --> 00:41:14 business
00:41:14 --> 00:41:14 was
00:41:14 --> 00:41:15 destroyed
00:41:15 --> 00:41:15 by
00:41:15 --> 00:41:16 fire
00:41:16 --> 00:41:16 in
00:41:16 --> 00:41:17 Chicago.
00:41:18 --> 00:41:18 Two
00:41:18 --> 00:41:18 years
00:41:18 --> 00:41:19 later
00:41:19 --> 00:41:19 the
00:41:19 --> 00:41:19 family
00:41:19 --> 00:41:20 decided
00:41:20 --> 00:41:20 to
00:41:20 --> 00:41:20 take
00:41:20 --> 00:41:20 a
00:41:20 --> 00:41:21 holiday
00:41:21 --> 00:41:21 to
00:41:21 --> 00:41:21 Europe
00:41:21 --> 00:41:21 as
00:41:21 --> 00:41:22 part
00:41:22 --> 00:41:22 of
00:41:22 --> 00:41:22 a
00:41:22 --> 00:41:23 respite
00:41:23 --> 00:41:23 and
00:41:23 --> 00:41:24 rebuilding
00:41:24 --> 00:41:25 opportunity
00:41:25 --> 00:41:26 for
00:41:26 --> 00:41:26 them.
00:41:27 --> 00:41:28 Horatio
00:41:28 --> 00:41:28 was
00:41:28 --> 00:41:29 delayed
00:41:29 --> 00:41:29 because
00:41:29 --> 00:41:30 business
00:41:30 --> 00:41:30 at the
00:41:30 --> 00:41:30 last
00:41:30 --> 00:41:30 minute
00:41:30 --> 00:41:31 he was
00:41:31 --> 00:41:31 delayed
00:41:31 --> 00:41:32 and so
00:41:32 --> 00:41:33 his wife
00:41:33 --> 00:41:33 and his
00:41:33 --> 00:41:33 four
00:41:33 --> 00:41:34 daughters
00:41:34 --> 00:41:34 travelled
00:41:34 --> 00:41:35 on ahead
00:41:35 --> 00:41:35 of him
00:41:35 --> 00:41:36 across
00:41:36 --> 00:41:36 the
00:41:36 --> 00:41:36 Atlantic
00:41:36 --> 00:41:37 on a
00:41:37 --> 00:41:37 ship.
00:41:38 --> 00:41:39 On
00:41:39 --> 00:41:39 the
00:41:39 --> 00:41:39 22nd
00:41:39 --> 00:41:39 of
00:41:39 --> 00:41:40 November
00:41:40 --> 00:41:41 1873
00:41:41 --> 00:41:41 while
00:41:41 --> 00:41:42 crossing
00:41:42 --> 00:41:42 the
00:41:42 --> 00:41:42 Atlantic
00:41:42 --> 00:41:43 their
00:41:43 --> 00:41:43 ship
00:41:43 --> 00:41:43 was
00:41:43 --> 00:41:43 hit
00:41:43 --> 00:41:45 by
00:41:45 --> 00:41:45 an
00:41:45 --> 00:41:45 iron
00:41:45 --> 00:41:46 sailing
00:41:46 --> 00:41:46 vessel
00:41:46 --> 00:41:48 226
00:41:48 --> 00:41:48 people
00:41:48 --> 00:41:48 lost
00:41:48 --> 00:41:48 their
00:41:48 --> 00:41:49 lives
00:41:49 --> 00:41:50 including
00:41:50 --> 00:41:51 four
00:41:51 --> 00:41:51 of
00:41:51 --> 00:41:52 Spafford's
00:41:52 --> 00:41:52 daughters
00:41:52 --> 00:41:53 all of
00:41:53 --> 00:41:53 them
00:41:53 --> 00:41:53 all these
00:41:53 --> 00:41:53 kids
00:41:53 --> 00:41:53 gone
00:41:53 --> 00:41:54 now.
00:41:55 --> 00:41:58 He
00:41:58 --> 00:41:58 got the
00:41:58 --> 00:41:58 news
00:41:58 --> 00:41:59 when his
00:41:59 --> 00:41:59 wife
00:41:59 --> 00:41:59 touched
00:41:59 --> 00:42:00 down
00:42:00 --> 00:42:00 in
00:42:00 --> 00:42:00 England.
00:42:03 --> 00:42:04 Spafford
00:42:04 --> 00:42:04 immediately
00:42:04 --> 00:42:05 sailed
00:42:05 --> 00:42:05 to
00:42:05 --> 00:42:06 England
00:42:06 --> 00:42:07 and
00:42:07 --> 00:42:07 as
00:42:07 --> 00:42:08 he
00:42:08 --> 00:42:08 sailed
00:42:08 --> 00:42:08 over
00:42:08 --> 00:42:09 the
00:42:09 --> 00:42:09 location
00:42:09 --> 00:42:11 of
00:42:11 --> 00:42:11 his
00:42:11 --> 00:42:12 daughter's
00:42:12 --> 00:42:12 death
00:42:12 --> 00:42:13 he
00:42:13 --> 00:42:14 penned
00:42:14 --> 00:42:14 a
00:42:14 --> 00:42:15 hymn.
00:42:16 --> 00:42:16 Let's
00:42:16 --> 00:42:16 stand
00:42:16 --> 00:42:17 and sing
00:42:17 --> 00:42:17 it.